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s"*p?s:or_  of  Oie  Anerkraji  Philosophical  Society 


THE 

LIFE 

OF 

THOMAS    JEFFERSON, 

THIRD    PRESIDENT 

OF  THE 

UNITED   STATES. 

WITH 

PARTS  OF  HIS  CORRESPONDENCE  NEVER  BEFORE  PUBLISHED, 
AND 

NOTICES  OF  HIS  OPINIONS  ON  QUESTIONS  OF  CIVIL  GOVERNMENT,  NATIONAL 
POLICY,  AND  CONSTITUTIONAL  LAW. 


BY  GEORGE  TUCKER, 

PROFESSOR  OF  MORAL  PHILOSOPHY  IN  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA. 


Itaque  nulla  alia  in  civitate,  nisi  in  qua  populi  potestas  summa  est,  ullum 

domicilium  libertas  habet:  qua  quidem  certe  nihil  potest  ease  dulcius;  et  qu«  si  tequa 
non  est,  ne  libertas  quidem  est. — Cic.  DE  REPUBLICA. 


IN   TWO  VOLUMES. 
VOL.  I. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

CAREY,  LEA  &  BLANCHARD. 

1837. 


ENTERED  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1837,  by  CAREY.  LE.A 
&  BLANCHARD,  in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  Eastern  District  of  Pennsylvania. 


ERRATA    TO    VOL.    I. 

Page  45,  4th  line  from  bottom,  for  contests  read  contrasts. 

55,  6th  fop,  for  district  read,  distinct. 

80,  6th  bottom,  dele  while. 

97, 3d  „          for  prescribe  read  proscribe. 

109,  llth  top,  for  uninterruptible  read  uninterrupted. 
180,  8th  „         take  read  make. 

222,  10th  „  after  reside  insert  there. 

228,14th  ,,  for  prosperity  read  property. 

291,  15th  bottom,  for  to  34  years,  read  a£  34  years. 
364,  10th  „         after  France  insert  he. 

510, 6th  ,.          after  merits  insert  were. 

515,  8th  „         for  on  read  of. 

528.  17th  top,  for  deprivation  read  depreciation. 


1258842 


TO 


JAMES  MADISON, 


FOURTH  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


SIR, 

Your  long  intimacy  with  Mr.  Jefferson,  your 
accordance  with  him  in  the  principles  of  civil  go- 
vernment, your  cordial  co-operation  in  carrying  those 
principles  into  effect,  and  lastly,  the  kindness  with 
which  you  have  answered  my  inquiries  and  guided 
my  researches,  make  '  it  peculiarly  proper  that  I 
should  address  to  you  the  following  pages.  In  sub- 
mitting to  you  the  biography  of  that  friend  of  many 
years,  I  indulge  the  hope  that  I  have  not  been  unsuc- 
cessful in  presenting  his  character,  moral  and  intel- 
lectual, fairly  to  the  world,  and  have  contributed 
something  to  the  vindication  of  those  liberal  princi- 
ples for  which  you  and  he  so  steadfastly,  so  ably,  and 


DEDICATION. 


so  successfully  contended.  Nothing  could  be  more 
gratifying  to  me  than  to  obtain  the  approbation  of 
one  whose  means  of  testing  the  truth  of  what  is  there 
recorded  exceed  those  of  any  individual  now  living; 
whose  judgment  is  known  to  be  as  unbiassed  as  it  is 
discriminating;  and  whose  integrity  is  of  such  dia- 
mondlike  solidity  and  brightness  that  the  breath 
of  even  party  calumny  could  leave  on  it  no  lasting 
tarnish. 

Having  been  one  of  the  chief  instruments  in  giving 
to  your  country  a  constitution  fitted  to  make  it  great 
and  prosperous  as  well  as  free,  it  was  afterwards 
your  happy  destiny  to  witness  the  glorious  result  of 
your  patriotic  labours;  to  receive  the  highest  honours 
a  grateful  people  could  bestow;  and  to  enjoy,  by  an- 
ticipation, the  fame  which  rewards  a  career  of  splen- 
did usefulness.  That  the  evening  of  a  life,  which  has 
been  thus  brilliant  and  fortunate,  may  continue  serene 
and  tranquil  to  the  last,  is,  in  all  sincerity,  the  prayer 
of, 

Sir, 

Your  most  respectful, 
and  most  obliged, 
obedient  servant, 

GEORGE  TUCKER. 
University  of  Virginia, 
February  1,  1836. 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


WHEN  the  following1  sheets  were  nearly  printed,  the  author  felt  it  his 
duty  to  send  Mr.  Madison,  pursuant  to  an  intention  long  before  declared 
to  him,  a  copy  of  the  preceding  dedication;  and  to  spare  him  the  trouble 
of  an  answer,  he  was  told  that  the  paper,  if  not  objected  to,  would  be 
printed  in  that  form.  He  however,  decided  on  answering  it,  and  merely 
postponed  it  from  time  to  time  by  the  persuasion  of  those  around  him: 
But  on  Monday,  the  27th  of  June,  he  was  peremptory  on  the  subject, 
saying  there  was  no  time  to  lose,  and  then  dictated  with  great  care,  but 
not  without  much  effort,  to  Mr.  Payne,  his  amanuensis,  the  subjoined 
letter,  which,  after  he  had  with  difficulty  signed,  he  insisted  also  on 
franking.  This  last  act  of  his  pen  was  about  thirteen  hours  before  his 
decease.  Under  circumstances  so  peculiar  and  interesting,  it  was  deemed 
proper  to  publish  the  dedication  in  the  form  submitted  to  him,  together 
with  the  sanction  he  had  thought  proper  to  give  to  its  contents. 

Montpellier,  June  27, 1836. 
My  dear  Sir, 

I  have  received  your  letter  of  June  17th,  with  the  paper  inclosed  in  it. 

Apart  from  the  value  put  on  such  a  mark  of  respect  from  you,  in  a 
dedication  of  your  "Life  of  Mr.  Jefferson"  to  me,  I  could  only  be  governed 
in  accepting  it,  by  my  confidence  in  your  capacity  to  do  justice  to  a  cha- 
racter so  interesting  to  this  country,  and  to  the  world;  and  I  may  be  per- 
mitted to  add,  with  whose  principles  of  liberty  and  political  career  mine 
have  been  so  extensively  congenial. 

It  could  not  escape  me  that  a  feeling  of  personal  friendship  has  mingled 
itself  greatly  with  the  credit  you  allow  to  my  public  services.  I  am  at 
the  same  time  justified  by  my  consciousness  in  saying,  that  an  ardent 
zeal  was  always  felt  to  make  up  for  deficiencies  in  them,  by  a  sincere  and 
steadfast  co-operation  in  promoting  such  a  reconstruction  of  our  political 
system  as  would  provide  for  the  permanent  liberty  and  happiness  of  the 
United  States;  and  that  of  the  many  good  fruits  it  has  produced,  which 
have  well  rewarded  the  efforts  and  anxieties  that  led  to  it,  no  one  has 
been  a  more  rejoicing  witness  than  myself. 

With  cordial  salutations  on  the  near  approach  to  the  end  of  your  un- 
dertaking, 

JAMES  MADISON. 

PROFESSOR  TUCKER. 


PREFACE. 


IT  was  the  fate  of  Thomas  Jefferson  to  be  at  once 
more  loved  and  praised  by  his  friends,  and  more  hated 
and  reviled  by  his  adversaries,  than  any  of  his  compa- 
triots. Time  has  produced  less  abatement  of  these 
feelings  towards  him  than  is  usual,  and  contrary  to 
the  maxim,  which  invokes  charity  for  the  dead,  the 
maledictions  of  his  enemies  have  of  late  years  been 
more  frequent  and  loud  than  the  commendations  of  his 
friends. 

The  author  was  therefore  aware  that  in  undertaking 
to  write  the  life  of  one,  who  was  the  object  of  such 
lively  and  opposite  sentiments,  he  engaged  in  a  hazard- 
ous task.  He  knew  that  with  one  portion  of  the  pub- 
lic, any  praise  would  be  distasteful;  and  that  with 
another  portion,  nothing  less  than  one  unvarying  strain 

of  eulogy  would  prove  satisfactory.     But,  in  spite  of 
VOL.  I.—* 


these  discouraging  circumstances,  he  was  induced  to 
venture  on  the  work  by  the  following  considerations. 
He  thought  that,  of  all  our  public  men,  the  greatest 
injustice   had  been  done   to  Mr.  Jefferson;    that  the 
prejudice  felt  towards  him  would  be  naturally  extended 
to   his   opinions;    and  that   in   the   vehemence,   per- 
severance and  ability  with  which  he  had  been  assailed, 
injury  was  likely  to  be  done  to  the  cause  of  political 
truth,  and  sound  principles  of  government.  He  believed, 
that  the  characters  of  the  two  great  parties,  which  had 
divided  this  country  for  the  first  thirty  years  after  the 
present  constitution  was  adopted,  had  not  been  fairly 
exhibited  to  the  world,  and  that  the  biography  of  Mr. 
Jefferson,  the  acknowledged  head  of  the   republican 
party,  presented  a   fit  occasion  for  vindicating  that 
party,  in  the  purity  of  their  motives,  the  justness  of 
their  views,  and  the  wisdom  of  their  policy,  from  some 
of  the  criminations  to  which  they  have  been  subjected. 
He  flattered  himself,  moreover,  that  both  parties,  on  a 
cool  retrospect  of  their  early  conflicts,  as  exhibited  in 
an  honest  and  dispassionate  narrative,  might  be  taught 
some  useful  lessons;  that  at  least  the  more  reflecting 
and  unprejudiced  portion   might   learn   to   feel   less 
intolerance  towards  their  opponents,  as  well  as  less 
confidence  in  their  own  exclusive  integrity  and  wisdom; 
and  acquire   more  skill  in  detecting  self-interest   or 
ambition  when  they  assume  the  mask  of  patriotism. 


PREFACE.  Xlii 

The  author  found  a  further  motive  in  the  publica- 
tion, which  has  been  made  since  Mr.  Jefferson's  death, 
of  some  of  his  papers  and  correspondence.  From  the 
want  of  caution  in  making  that  publication,  owing,  it 
is  presumed,  to  a  mistaken  opinion  of  the  claims  of 
the  public,  the  ill  will  which  had  been  felt  against  Mr. 
Jefferson,  as  the  leader  of  his  party,  received  a  fresh 
impetus,  and  was  in  some  measure  imparted  to  a  new 
generation.  In  the  warmth  of  their  resentment,  his 
unreserved  communications  to  confidential  friends  have 
been  regarded  as  if  they  had  been  deliberately  written 
by  him  for  the  press;  and  the  ebullitions  of  feeling, 
uttered  when  the  fever  of  party  excitement  was  at  its 
height,  and  when  he  was  goaded  by  every  species  of 
provocation,  have  been  considered  as  the  settled  con- 
victions of  his  mind. 

His  sentiments  on  these  occasions  have  been  com- 
pared with  those  of  his  cooler  moments  to  charge  him 
with  inconsistency;  and  contradictions  made  by  his 
enemies,  or  avowed  partisans,  or  on  vague  recollec- 
tions, have  been  taken  as  undeniable  truths  to  prove 
him  guilty  of  wilful  misrepresentation.  To  excuse  a 
course  so  obviously  unfair,  it  has  been  said,  that  by 
leaving  his  papers  for  publication  he  has  shown,  that 
he  still  retained  the  same  sentiments;  and  it  has  even 
been  asserted,  that  the  letters  actually  published  were 
especially  selected  by  him.  But  the  imputation  is 


Xiv  PREFACE. 

altogether  unfounded.  Mr.  Jefferson  left  his  papers 
of  every  description  to  his  grandson  and  executor, 
Thomas  Jefferson  Randolph,  subject  to  his  entire  con- 
trol. 

The  anecdotes  collected  under  the  title  ana  were, 
indeed,  arranged  by  him,  and  intended  no  doubt  to  be 
one  day  published,  in  defence  of  himself  and  his  party, 
at  the  discretion  of  his  executor.  But,  for  the  selec- 
tion of  the  letters  for  publication  from  the  mass  of 
his  voluminous  correspondence,  Mr.  Randolph  and 
the  friends  he  consulted  are  alone  responsible.  Mr. 
Jefferson  gave  no  directions  concerning  it,  and  no  one 
can  suppose,  that  the  letters  which  he  desired  to  be 
destroyed  as  soon  as  read,  or  which  he  wrote  in 
cipher,  or  was  afraid  to  entrust  to  the  post-office,  he 
could  have  wished  published  as  soon  as  he  was  in  his 
grave.  We  must,  therefore,  infer,  that  in  leaving  these 
papers  to  his  lineal  representative,  he  wished  them  to  be 
carefully  preserved  as  memorials  of  his  thoughts  and 
feelings,  and  of  the  times  in  which  he  lived,  but  not  to 
be  used  in  a  manner  which  might  provoke  attacks  on 
his  memory;  and  that  some  of  them,  if  published  at  all, 
should  never  see  the  light,  until  all  party  and  personal 
resentments  were  forgotten. 

It   remains,  that  the   public   be   informed   of  the 
author's   means   of  giving   an    authentic    narrative. 


PREFACE.  XV 

He  has,  in  the  first  place,  received  every  assist- 
ance which  could  be  furnished  by  Mr.  Jefferson's 
friend  and  fellow-labourer,  Mr.  Madison.  In  all 
matters  of  doubt,  the  author  has  received  his  clear 
and  able  elucidations.  Many  of  the  most  interesting 
facts  were  derived  directly  from  him,  and  nearly  the 
whole  of  the  first  volume  was  submitted  to  his  inspec- 
tion, and  received  the  benefit  of  his  correction  as  to 
matters  of  fact.  To  Mr.  Randolph,  the  author  is  under 
the  highest  obligations  for  access  to  all  the  letters 
written  by  his  grandfather;  and  to  Nicholas  P.  Trist, 
esq.,  for  the  selection  of  such  letters  and  papers,  never 
before  published,  as  were  thought  to  throw  light  on 
Mr.  Jefferson's  character.  From  the  late  Mrs.  Ran- 
dolph, whose  candour  and  good  sense  were  equalled 
only  by  her  gentle  virtues,  he  received,  in  answer  to 
the  queries  he  propounded,  minute  information  of 
his  private  and  domestic  life,  both  when  in  France 
and  in  this  country.  From  John  Page,  esq.,  he  has 
received  the  letters  that  give  a  history  of  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son's college  life,  of  which  there  is  probably  no  other 
memorial  extant.  From  Mrs.  Marx,  the  venerable 
mother  of  the  late  Meriwether  Lewis,  whose  recollec- 
tions are  yet  undimmed  by  age,  he  has  also  received 
information  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  early  years.  For  com- 
munications of  less  amount  or  importance,  he  is  indebt- 
ed to  a  greater  number  of  persons  than  can  be  here  par- 
ticularly mentioned.  For  the  middle  and  latter  portions 


XVI  PREFACE. 

of  his  life  the  author  found  ample  materials  in  the 
public  records  of  the  country,  and  in  his  own  personal 
knowledge  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  which  had  continued 
through  a  period  of  twenty-seven  years;  during  the 
last  fifteen  months  of  which  their  intercourse  was 
frequent  and  familiar. 

The  author  has,  in  the  execution  of  his  task, 
studiously  aimed  at  accuracy,  and  he  trusts  he  has 
essentially  attained  it.  He  has  also  aimed  at  impar- 
tiality; but,  for  the  reasons  already  stated,  he  fears  that 
this  merit  will  be  denied  to  him  by  but  too  many  of 
those  whose  favour  he  would  gladly  have  obtained. 
With  a  yet  larger  class,  however,  and  especially  those 
who  have  lately  come,  or  are  yet  coming  on  the  stage, 
he  hopes  to  be  more  successful.  To  them  he  takes 
the  liberty  of  suggesting,  that  from  his  close  connexion 
and  frequent  intercourse  with  individuals  of  both  par- 
ties, he  has  had  the  best  opportunity  to  see  the  merits 
and  the  faults  of  which  all  sects,  at  once  numerous  and 
zealous,  always  have  their  full  share;  that  he  trusts 
they  will  find  he  has  profited  by  his  position,  and  has 
shown  neither  undue  deference  to  one  party,  nor  illibe- 
rality  to  the  other;  that  he  has  neither  withheld  cen- 
sure from  those  with  whom  he  was  politically  associated, 
nor  been  niggardly  in  his  praise  of  their  opponents; 
and  lastly,  that  in  his  review  of  Mr.  Jefferson's 
opinions — no  unimportant  part  of  his  life — while  he  has 


PREFACE.  IVH 

considered  them  in  the  spirit  of  liberal  criticism,  and 
praised  where  he  ought,  he  has  not  hesitated  to  arraign 
at  the  bar  of  reason,  such  as  appeared  to  him 
erroneous. 

The  work  has  been  far  longer  in  preparation  than 
the  author  expected;  but  the  difficulty — first  of  procur- 
ing the  materials,  which  are  often  to  be  found  only  in 
the  productions  of  the  ephemeral  press,  and  then  the 
labour  of  winnowing  what  was  useful  and  pertinent 
from  the  heterogeneous  mass,  is  inconceivable  to  one 
who  has  never  tried  it.  The  delay  has  been  greatly 
increased  in  consequence  of  the  author's  having  been 
obliged  to  revise  most  of  the  sheets  at  the  distance  of 
near  three  hundred  miles  from  the  press;  and  as,  from 
the  same  circumstance,  his  additions  and  corrections 
could  not  be  revised,  the  verbal  errors,  he  regrets  to 
find,  are  far  more  numerous  than  he  expected,  and 
require  the  utmost  forgiveness  of  the  indulgent  reader. 

University  of  Virginia, 
Dec.  23,  1836. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

The  life  of  Thomas  Jefferson  peculiarly  instructive— illustrated  by  the 
history  of  his  native  state.  First  settlement  of  Virginia.  Difficulties 
of  the  first  settlers.  Introduction  of  slaves,  and  the  cultivation  of  to- 
bacco— their  influence  on  the  character  and  condition  of  the  inhabitants. 
Towns  small  and  few.  Habits  and  manners  of  the  people.  Religion. 
Government.  Aristocracy.  Jealous  of  their  civil  rights.  Collisions 
with  the  crown.  Subsequent  harmony  until  the  stamp  act.  9 


CHAPTER  II. 

Birth  and  parentage  of  Thomas  Jefferson.  His  Education.  Sent  to 
College.  Dr.  Small.  His  amusements.  Description  of  his  person. 
His  familiar  letters  to  John  Page.  Governor  Fauquier.  Studies  law 
under  George  Wythe.  Visits  Annapolis  and  Philadelphia.  His  cha- 
racter as  a  lawyer.  Patrick  Henry.  The  stamp  act.  Is  elected  to 
the  General  Assembly.  It  denies  the  right  of  Great  Britain  to  tax  the 
colonies.  The  members  meet  at  the  Raleigh  Tavern.  Progress  of 
discontents.  --------26 


CHAPTER  III. 

1772—1775. 

His  Marriage.  Committees  of  Correspondence.  Boston  Port  Bill. 
Members  of  Assembly  enter  into  articles  of  Association.  Propose  a 
General  Congress.  First  Convention  in  Virginia.  His  vindication 
of  the  rights  of  America.  Proceedings  of  the  Convention — choose 
Deputies  to  a  General  Congress.  Character  of  that  Body.  The  Con- 
vention of  Virginia  assemble  at  Richmond.  Its  Proceedings.  Mr. 
Jefferson  chosen  a  Deputy  to  Congress.  The  Powder  withdrawn  from 
the  Public  Magazine  by  Lord  Dunmore.  The  popular  irritation  it 


Xiv  CONTENTS. 

excited.  General  Assembly  convened.  Mr.  Jefferson  prepares  a  reply 
to  Lord  North's  propositions.  Collision  between  the  Governor  and 
House  of  Burgesses.  Conduct  of  Lord  Dunmore.  51 

CHAPTER  IV. 
1775—1779. 

Declaration  by  Congress  of  the  causes  of  taking  up  arms.  The  mani- 
festos of  Congress.  Mr.  Jefferson's  share  in  those  papers.  Is  re-elected 
to  Congress.  His  previous  views  on  Independence.  Progress  of  Pub- 
lic Sentiment.  Proceedings  of  the  Virginia  Convention.  Declaration 
of  Independence  moved  in  Congress.  Mr.  Jefferson  prepares  the 
draught.  When  adopted  and  signed.  Its  character.  He  retires  from 
Congress.  Elected  to  the  General  Assembly  of  Virginia.  Abolition 
of  entails — Primogeniture.  Their  effects  considered.  Church  estab- 
lishment in  Virginia.  Its  gradual  abolition.  Entire  freedom  of  religion. 
Its  consequences.  -------  77 

CHAPTER  V. 
1777—1779. 

Mr.  Jefferson  proposes  a  general  revision  of  the  laws.  Appointed  one  of 
the  Committee.  His  objections  to  Codification.  Distribution  of  the 
labour.  Character  of  the  Revisal.  Edmund  Pendleton.  Criminal 
Law.  James  Madison.  The  right  of  Expatriation  declared.  System 
of  Education.  Jefferson's  opinions  on  Slavery.  Arguments  for  and 
against  the  practicability  of  Emancipation.  His  hospitable  and  humane 
attentions  to  the  English  prisoners  quartered  in  Albemarle.  Prevents 
their  removal  from  the  county.  -  -  -  -  -  103 

CHAPTER  VI. 
1779—1781. 

Mr.  Jefferson  elected  Governor  of  Virginia.  Difficulties  of  his  situation. 
George  Rogers  Clarke.  Retaliation  on  Governor  Hamilton  and  others. 
Its  effects.  Claims  of  Virginia  to  the  Western  Territory.  Resisted 
by  other  States.  Her  cession  of  the  Territory.  Difficulty  of  providing 
military  supplies  and  of  transporting  them.  Arnold's  predatory  incur- 
sion. Its  success  explained.  Abortive  attempts  to  capture  Arnold. 
Invasion  under  Phillips  and  Arnold.  Their  operations.  Correspon- 
dence between  the  Governor  and  General  Phillips.  Meeting  of  the 
Legislature.  It  adjourns  to  Charlottesville.  Lord  Cornwallis  invades 
Virginia.  The  Governor  declines  a  re-election.  His  motives.  Tarlton 
detached  to  Charlottesville.  Mr.  Jefferson  and  the  members  of  As- 
sembly narrowly  escape  capture.  -  -  -  -  125 


CONTENTS.  XV 


CHAPTER  VII. 

1781—1784. 

Public  discontents  in  Virginia.  Clamours  against  Governor  Jefferson. 
He  is  threatened  with  impeachment.  The  charges  against  him  can- 
vassed. His  vindication.  Writes  the  notes  on  Virginia.  Character 
of  that  work.  Is  elected  to  the  Legislature.  Invites  an  investigation 
into  his  conduct.  The  legislature  unanimously  vote  him  their  thanks. 
Is  appointed  an  Envoy  to  negotiate  peace.  Declines.  The  death  of 
Mrs.  Jefferson.  His  appointment  renewed  and  accepted.  His  em- 
barkation prevented  by  the  news  of  peace.  Is  elected  to  Congress. 
Recommends  a  common  money  of  account — adopted  by  Congress. 
Plan  of  a  standing  Executive  Committee — its  failure.  General  Wash- 
ington resigns  his  command.  Abuses  of  debate  in  deliberative  bodies. 
Debate  on  the  ratification  of  the  Treaty  of  Peace — its  final  ratification. 
The  committees  of  which  he  was  a  member.  His  report  on  the  foreign 
relations  of  the  United  States.  The  Cincinnati  Association— it  becomes 
an  object  of  jealousy.  General  Washington  consults  Mr.  Jefferson  on 
this  subject.  His  views.  Its  dissolution.  -  149 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

1784—1786. 

Mr.  Jefferson  appointed  Minister  to  France.  Embarks  at  Boston.  Meet- 
ing with  Dr.  Franklin  in  Paris.  State  of  Society  there.  They  endeav- 
our to  make  commercial  treaties.  Their  partial  success  and  its  causes. 
Publishes  his  notes  on  Virginia.  Theory  of  the  degeneracy  of  animals 
in  America.  Statue  of  Washington.  Remains  sole  minister.  Nego- 
tiations against  the  tobacco  monopoly.  Asserts  the  doctrine  of  free 
trade.  His  qualifications  of  it.  His  opinion  of  a  navy.  Sends  a  model 
for  the  capitol  at  Richmond.  The  Barbary  powers.  Proposes  a  plan 
of  resistance  by  combined  forces.  Causes  of  its  failure.  His  multifa- 
rious correspondence.  Negotiations  with  the  Barbary  states.  Confer- 
ence with  the  French  minister  on  American  commerce.  Oglethorpe's 
heirs.  Case  of  Lister  Asquith.  Taste  for  country  life.  174 

CHAPTER  IX. 

1786—1787. 

Mr.  Jefferson  joins  Mr.  Adams  in  London.  Their  cold  reception.  Policy 
of  the  British  government  towards  America.  Treaty  with  Portugal 
not  ratified.  Unsuccessful  negotiation  with  the  Tripoline  minister. 
Mr.  Jefferson's  description  of  England.  His  contributions  to  the  En- 
cyclopedie  Methodique.  The  progress  of  population  in  the  United 
States.  Inland  Navigation.  Elk  horns.  Live  oak.  Fossil  shells. 


Vi  CONTENTS. 

Debts  of  Virginians.  New  federal  government  for  the  United  States 
proposed.  Houdon's  statue  of  Washington.  Proposes  a  donation  to 
La  Fayette.  British  debts  in  Virginia.  Objects  to  the  proposed  extent 
of  some  new  states.  His  opinion  of  the  powers  of  Congress.  Act  of 
religious  freedom.  Popular  instruction.  Harbour  of  Cherbourg.  Phi- 
losophical dialogue.  Easterly  winds.  Connexion  between  the  Atlantic 
and  Pacific.  The  Cincinnati.  His  schemes  of  future  happiness.  As- 
sists Ledyard,  the  traveller — his  enterprises.  Complains  that  his  de- 
spatches had  been  published.  Carriage  wheels.  -  198 


CHAPTER  X. 

1787. 

Political  troubles  of  France.  Meeting  of  the  Notables.  Shay's  Insur- 
rection in  Massachusetts.  Newspapers.  Thoughts  on  Government. 
Navigation  of  the  Mississippi.  Visits  the  South  of  France.  His 
style  of  travelling.  Nismes.  Secret  overtures  from  a  Brazilian  and 
a  Mexican.  His  views  of  the  new  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 
Debt  due  to  French  officers.  Is  joined  by  his  younger  daughter.  Note 
to  the  French  minister.  Cultivation  of  the  vine  and  olive  compared. 
His  opinions  on  the  power  of  coercion  on  the  states — Moral  philosophy 
—Religion— T  ravelling.  A  dvice  in  a  law  question.  S  tatuary  costume. 
Increasing  discontents  in  France.  Effects  of  European  wars  on  the 
United  States.  Progress  of  the  French  Revolution.  Letter  to  Mr. 
Wythe.  Imports  the  bones  of  a  Moose.  Imputed  project  of  the  Eng- 
lish ministry.  - 226 


CHAPTER  XL 

1787—1789. 

Mr.  Jefferson's  views  of  the  Federal  Constitution.  His  two  principal 
objections.  Visits  Holland.  National  credit  in  Amsterdam.  Prisoners 
in  Algiers.  Plan  of  liberating  them.  Expenses  of  American  ministers. 
Consular  convention.  Gordon's  History  of  the  American  Revolution. 
Some  opinions  in  physical  science — faith  in  its  improvements.  Silas 
Deane's  letter  book.  Claims  of  French  officers.  Memoir  on  the  ad- 
mission of  American  fish  oil  into  France.  Asks  leave  to  return  home. 
Views  of  the  future  policy  of  the  United  States.  Progress  of  the 
French  Revolution.  Meeting  of  the  states-general.  Scarcity  of 
bread  in  Paris.  Complaints  of  French  officers  against  the  United 
States.  252 


CONTENTS.  XV11 


CHAPTER  XII. 
1789—1790. 

Further  opinions  on  the  Federal  Constitution.  Mr.  Madison's  and  Mr. 
Jefferson's  respective  views  on  Declarations  of  Rights.  Discoveries 
and  improvements  in  Science.  Progress  of  the  French  Revolution. 
Mr.  Jefferson  submits  a  Bill  of  Rights  to  La  Fayette.  Visits  Versailles 
almost  daily.  Connexion  of  Lake  Erie  with  the  Ohio.  Views  of  the 
French  Revolution.  Titular  distinctions  in  the  United  States.  The 
doctrine  that  one  generation  cannot  bind  another.  Mr.  Madison's 
views  on  this  subject.  Further  objections  to  the  doctrine.  State  of 
parties  in  Paris.  His  mode  of  passing  his  time  there.  Leaves  France. 
Stops  at  the  Isle  of  Wight.  Arrival  at  Norfolk.  His  papers  narrowly 
escape  conflagration.  Return  to  Monticello.  Reception  by  his  slaves. 
Appointed  Secretary  of  State.  Marriage  of  his  eldest  daughter.  Sets 
out  for  New  York.  Interview  with  Dr.  Franklin.  -  -  274 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

1790. 

Mr.  Jefferson  arrives  at  New  York.  Sketch  of  parties  after  the  Revo- 
lution. Sense  of  the  necessity  of  union.  Local  jealousies.  Federal- 
ists and  anti-federalists.  Partiality  for  the  British  Constitution.  Illu- 
sions of  rank.  Mr.  Jefferson's  sentiments.  Proceedings  of  the  first 
Congress.  Impost.  Permanent  seat  of  government.  Mr.  Hamilton's 
report  on  public  credit.  Discrimination  in  favour  of  the  original  public 
creditors  proposed  by  Mr.  Madison.  Arguments  for  and  against  it. 
Public  opinion  on  the  question.  Assumption  of  state  debts.  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson's impressions  of  the  arguments  urged  for  and  against  the 
assumption.  The  proposition  rejected.  Mr.  Jefferson  joins  in  affect- 
ing a  compromise.  Merits  of  the  question.  Local  division  of  the 
parties.  ........305 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
1790—1791. 

Mr.  Jefferson's  party  attachments.  Injurious  effects  of  the  assumption. 
Leading  measures  of  Congress.  Discriminating  duties.  Commercial 
retaliation  proposed.  Closed  doors  of  the  Senate.  Navigation  of 
the  Mississippi.  Diplomatic  intercourse  with  England.  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son's reports  on  a  copper  coinage — on  weights  and  measures — the 
fisheries.  Excise.  Mr.  Hamilton's  report  on  public  credit.  He  pro- 
poses a  national  bank.  Arguments  for  and  against  its  constitutional- 
ity. Letter  to  the  National  Assembly  in  memory  of  Franklin.  Navi- 
gation of  the  Mississippi.  Tonnage  duty.  Political  sentiments  of  John 


XV111  CONTENTS. 

Adams  and  Alexander  Hamilton.  Practice  of  recording  conversations 
considered.  Public  prosperity.  Public  credit.  Spirit  of  speculation — 
its  causes  and  effects.  Discriminating  duties  in  France.  French 
West  Indies.  Indian  territorial  rights.  The  surrender  of  fugitives 
from  justice.  Deputies  from  St.  Domingo.  -  -  -  333 

CHAPTER  XV. 

1791—1792. 

Third  session  of  the  first  Congress.  The  commerce  of  the  United  States 
with  France  and  England  compared.  St.  Glair's  defeat.  Apportion- 
ment bill.  Mr.  Jefferson  advises  the  President  to  negative  it.  Con- 
versation with  the  President  on  his  proposed  retirement.  Causes  of 
the  public  discontents.  The  power  to  promote  the  general  welfare. 
Collision  between  Jefferson  and  Hamilton.  Official  correspondence 
with  Mr.  Hammond,  the  British  minister — Pagan's  case — tampering 
with  the  Creek  Indians— complaints  of  each  government.  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son's answer  to  Mr.  Hammond's  charges.  The  Post-office.  Surren- 
dering of  foreign  fugitives.  Relative  powers  of  the  legislative  and 
executive  branches.  Negotiation  with  Algiers.  Paul  Jones.  360 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
1792—1793. 

Mr.  Jefferson  addresses  a  long  letter  to  the  President.  His  views  of  the 
state  of  parties.  His  various  arguments  why  the  President  should 
serve  a  second  term.  Conversation  between  them  on  the  subject  of 
this  letter.  Their  respective  opinions  on  the  Assumption,  Bank,  and 
Excise.  Further  conversation — the  supposed  predilections  for  Mo- 
narchy—influence of  the  Treasury  Department.  Commissioners  from 
Spain.  Discussion  in  the  Cabinet.  Disagreement  as  to  Foreign  Con- 
nexions. Relations  with  France.  Party  Dissentions.  References  to 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury— his  plan  of  reducing  the  Public  Debt 
— proposes  to  pay  the  debt  to  the  Bank  in  advance.  Further  Assump- 
tion of  State  Debts.  Mr.  Giles's  Resolutions  against  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury.  Proceedings  thereon.  Views  of  the  two  Parties. 
Conversation  with  the  President  on  his  Levees.  Right  of  the  United 
States  to  cede  Territory,  discussed  in  the  Cabinet.  -  -  381 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
1793. 

Questions  arising  on  the  War  between  France  and  England.  Views  of 
the  Cabinet.  Mr.  Jefferson's  argument  that  the  United  States  were 
not  absolved  from  their  treaties  with  France  by  its  Revolution— it  pre- 
vails with  the  President.  His  letters  to  Mr.  Madison  and  Mr.  Monroe 


CONTENTS.  XIX 

on  the  Neutrality  of  the  United  States.  Arrival  of  Citizen  Genet,  the 
French  Minister — his  reception.  Rights  of  France  under  the  Treaty 
of  Commerce.  Mr.  Jefferson's  correspondence  with  the  French  Minis- 
ter. Genet's  intemperate  and  offensive  course— his  recall— the  popu- 
lar feeling  in  his  favour.  ------  411 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
1793. 

State  of  parties  as  to  the  French  Revolution.  The  Proclamation  of 
Neutrality — how  viewed  by  the  two  parties — by  Mr.  Hamilton  and  Mr. 
Madison.  Mr.  Jefferson's  letters  to  Mr.  Madison  and  Mr.  Monroe. 
Cabinet  consultations  concerning  Genet.  The  order  of  the  British 
government  relative  to  neutrals— the  correspondence  relative  to  it- 
Impressment  of  American  seamen.  French  decrees  relative  to  neu- 
trals. Discussions  in  the  Cabinet — Proclamation  of  Neutrality — Forti- 
fications— Military  Academy.  Communications  to  Congress  on  the 
foreign  relations  of  the  United  States.  Mr.  Jefferson's  report  on 
commercial  restrictions.  His  resignation  and  return  to  Monticello.  439  - 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
1794. 

Mr.  Jefferson's  motives  for  retiring  from  public  life.  His  continued  con- 
nexion with  the  Republican  Party.  Description  of  Monticello.  Mr. 
Madison's  Commercial  Restrictions — arguments  for  and  against  them 
in  Congress.  State  of  parties  on  this  Question.  A  naval  force  pro- 
vided. British  Order  in  Council  of  the  5th  of  November.  The  Mea- 
sures in  Congress  to  which  it  gave  rise.  The  Chief  Justice  sent  as 
Minister  to  England.  Each  party  accuses  the  other  of  foreign  attach- 
ments. Arrangement  of  each  under  different  classes  of  citizens.  467 

CHAPTER  XX. 
1794—1795. 

Insurrection  in  Pennsylvania.  Mr.  Jefferson  refuses  a  sea't  in  the  Cabi- 
net. Democratic  Societies.  The  President's  Speech — Mr.  Jefferson's 
strictures  on  it.  The  fitness  of  large  states  for  Republican  Govern- 
ment considered.  Gouverneur  Morris  recalled — his  character.  James 
Monroe.  Discontent  of  Kentucky.  Direct  and  Indirect  Taxes.  Alex- 
ander Hamilton  resigns — his  character.  Mr.  Jefferson  refuses  to  be- 
come a  Candidate  for  the  Presidency.  Treaty  with  Great  Britain- 
ratified  by  the  Senate— made  public  by  one  of  the  Senators— violent 
opposition  to  it. — Mr.  Jefferson's  views  of  it — its  provisions — its  want 
of  reciprocity  detailed  and  explained.  486 


XX  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XXI. 
1796. 

The  British  Treaty  ratified  by  the  President  and  Senate.  Proceedings 
in  Congress.  The  right  of  Congress  to  refuse  appropriations  for  exe- 
cuting a  treaty  discussed.  Considerations  on  this  subject  drawn  from 
the  character  of  the  Federal  Government.  Letter  to  Mr.  Giles.  The 
-  duty  to  take  sides  between  conflicting  parties  considered.  Construc- 
tion of  the  Constitution  as  to  the  power  in  Congress  to  establish  Post 
Roads.  Letter  to  Mazzei.  Mr.  Jefferson's  defence  of  that  letter— the 
objections  to  it  considered.  General  Washington's  Farewell  Address. 
Mr.  Adams  and  Mr.  Jefferson  rival  candidates  for  the  Presidency.  Mr. 
Jefferson  chosen  Vice-President— the  considerations  which  reconciled 
him  to  that  result.  -------  508 


THE 


LIFE  OF   THOMAS  JEFFERSON 


CHAPTER  I. 


The  life  of  Thomas  Jefferson  peculiarly  instructive — illustrated  by  the 
history  of  his  native  state.  First  settlement  of  Virginia.  Difficul- 
ties of  the  first  settlers.  Introduction  of  slaves,  and  the  cultivation  of 
tobacco — their  influence  on  the  character  and  condition  of  the  inhabit- 
ants. Towns  small  and  few.  Habits  and  manners  of  the  people.  Re- 
ligion. Government.  Aristocracy.  Jealous  of  their  civil  rights. 
Collisions  with  the  crown.  Subsequent  harmony  until  the  stamp  act. 

BIOGRAPHY  can  present  no  occasion  of  more  interest  and  in- 
struction to  Americans  than  the  life  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  whe- 
ther we  regard  the  high  place  he  held  in  the  affections  of  his 
countrymen,  the  influence  he  exercised  in  their  public  councils 
and  over  their  political  sentiments,  or  the  means  by  which  he 
attained  this  extraordinary  elevation.  It  never  could  be  more 
truly  said  of  any  man  that  he  was  the  artificer  of  his  own  for- 
tune. We  behold  in  him  the  rare  example  of  one  who,  pos- 
sessing no  peculiar  claims  to  distinction  from  wealth,  family,  or 
station,  and  without  having  either  gained  a  battle,  made  a 
speech,  or  founded  a  sect,  raised  himself  from  the  ranks  of  pri- 

VoL.L-2 


10  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

vate  life  to  the  highest  civil  honours  of  his  country,  after  he 
had  contributed  by  his  counsels  to  give  that  country  indepen- 
dence; and  whose  opinions,  both  when  he  was  living  and  since 
his  death,  have  acquired  a  weight  and  currency  with  his  coun- 
trymen, on  all  questions  of  government  and  civil  policy,  which 
those  of  no  other  individual  have  ever  attained. 

Although  the  principal  events  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  life  are  already 
familiar  to  his  countrymen,  yet  they  cannot  but  be  gratified 
to  see  those  events  placed  in  immediate  connexion  with  their 
less  obvious  causes  and  effects,  and  receive  illustrations  from 
his  modes  of  ihinking  and  personal  traits  of  character.  Nor 
ought  we  to  disregard  the  claims  o'f  posterity.  The  numerous 
millions  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  who  will  hereafter  inhabit  this 
continent,  will  assuredly,  whether  they  continue  united  in  one 
mighty  confederacy,  or  by  a  less  happy  destiny,  be  broken  up 
into  distinct  sovereignties,  look  back  on  the  separation  of  the 
thirteen  provinces  from  Great  Britain,  which  first  gave  them 
a  place  among  nations,  as  the  most  important  era  in  their 
common  history.  They  will  naturally  regard  with  veneration 
and  interest  all  which  relates  to  that  great  drama,  and  more 
especially  the  fortunes  and  characters  of  its  principal  actors. 
It  seems,  then,  to  be  a  duty  of  the  present  generation  to  profit 
by  their  position,  and  to  transmit  to  their  descendants  those  de- 
tails to  which  they  will  so  anxiously  turn,  whether  their  pur- 
pose be  to  gratify  a  liberal  curiosity,  or  to  indulge  in  sentiments 
of  patriotic  pride. 

But  the  life  of  Mr.  Jefferson  is  so  intimately  connected  with 
the  history  of  his  country,  that  a  brief  notice  of  the  polity  and 
institutions  of  Virginia,  while  a  colony,  as  well  as  of  the  man- 
ners and  pursuits  of  its  inhabitants,  will  not  only  shed  light  on 
his  character,  but  also  make  us  better  acquainted  with  the 
sources  and  tendencies  of  some  of  his  principal  acts. 

Virginia,  the  first  colony  which  the  English  planted  in  North 
America,  had  been  settled  at  the  period  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  birth, 
in  1743,  just  one  hundred  and  thirty-six  years.  The  charters 
granted  by  the  English  sovereigns  to  its  first  settlers  extended 
the  limits  of  the  colony  to  the  west  as  far  as  the  Pacific  Ocean. 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  11 

But  as  the  region  thus  liberally  bestowed  was  then  actually 
occupied  by  numerous  savage  tribes,  the  royal  bounty  only  con- 
ferred the  exclusive  right  of  obtaining  it,  by  purchase  or  con- 
quest, from  its  original  proprietors.  These  people  on  whom 
Europeans  gratuitously  bestowed  the  name  of  Indians,  soon  saw 
in  the  foreign  intruders  the  direst  enemy  of  their  face,  and  de- 
termined to  resist  their  further  progress.  They  greatly  annoyed 
the  first  colonists,  and  in  1G23,  in  an  interval  of  peace,  had 
nearly  exterminated  them  by  a  general  massacre. 

But  neither  their  cunning  nor  valour  could  long  withstand 
the  arts  and  arms  of  civilization.  The  tribes  nearest  to  the 
English  settlements  were  successively  either  exterminated  or 
compelled  to  retire  farther  west;  and  when,  by  the  gradual  in- 
crease of  the  whites,  and  the  consequent  extension  of  their  set- 
tlements, the  two  races  again  came  into  contact,  the  red  man, 
unmindful  of  the  past,  again  fiercely  attempted  to  arrest  the 
further  advances  of  the  invader,  and  again  was  overpowered. 
In  this  way,  the  lands  of  North  America,  \vith  few  exceptions, 
were  gradually  won  by  the  valour  of  the  settlers  themselves; 
and  often  won,  too,  by  an  exhibition  of  enterprise  and  bravery, 
and  at  an  expense  of  life  and  endurance  of  privation,  of  which 
the  annals  of  civilized  society  afford  few  parallels.  The  brunt 
of  these  border  conflicts  was  borne  by  a  small  number  of  ad- 
venturers on  the  frontier,  who  have  been  properly  called  the 
pioneers  of  civilization;  and  who  thus  voluntarily  made  them- 
selves the  advanced  guard  of  the  colonists,  from  their  passion 
for  hunting,  together  with  the  spirit  of  adventure,  which  pre- 
ferred the  exciting  hazards  of  even  Indian  hostility  to  the  tame 
and  quiet  occupations  of  civilized  life. 

As  the  country  was  gradually  wrested  from  the  Indians,  it 
was  laid  off  into  counties,  and  since  the  country  near  the  coast 
had  been  first  settled,  that  part  was  the  most  populous,  both  from 
natural  increase  and  the  accession  of  new  settlers;  whilst  the 
population  was  more  thin  and  scattered  towards  the  west.  The 
frontier  counties  were,  by  reason  of  this  thinness  of  population, 
much  larger  than  those  longer  settled,  and  they  had  no  definite 
western  boundary.  But  as  soon  as  the  inhabitants  of  a  fron- 


12  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

tier  county  became  sufficiently  numerous  to  require  it,  the  un- 
defined western  portion  of  it  was  separated  from  the  rest,  and 
formed  into  a  new  county  with  a  new  name.  In  this  way  Gooch- 
land  had  been  formed  out  of  Henrico,  and  in  1744,  the  year 
after  Mr.  Jefferson  was  born,  Albemarle  was  formed  out  of 
GooChland. 

At  the  period  to  which  we  refer,  the  settlements  had  extend- 
ed about  two  hundred  miles  from  the  sea-coast,  and  in  the 
northern  half  of  the  colony  they  had  passed  the  Blue  Ridge, 
thus  spreading  over  about  one-third  of  the  state,  according  to 
its  present  limits.  The  population,  at  the  same  period,  deduced 
from  statements  previously  and  subsequently  made,  was  some- 
thing more  than  two  hundred  thousand,  of  which  number  from 
a  fourth  to  a  third  were  slaves. 

Two  circumstances  occurred  soon  after  Virginia  was  settled, 
which  have  had  an  important  influence  on  the  habits,  character, 
and  fortunes  of  the  country,  and  the  remote  effects  of  one  of 
•which  it  is  beyond  human  foresight  to  scan.  One  of  these  was 
the  cultivation  of  tobacco,  and  the  other,  the  introduction  of 
African  slaves. 

The  use  of  tobacco  had  been  introduced  into  England  by 
some  of  the  first  adventurers  to  America,  twenty  years  before 
the  settlement  of  James  Town.  They  had  acquired  the  habit 
of  smoking  it  during  a  short  residence  among  the  natives,  who, 
having  neither  wine  nor  opium,  nor  the  arts  of  brewing  or  dis- 
tilling, found  in  the  properties  of  this  weed  that  stimulus  of  the 
nervous  system  which  man  seems  every  where  to  crave,  and 
which  may  be  the  more  coveted  by  the  Indian  from  a  pecu- 
liarly phlegmatic  temperament.  The  use  of  it  rapidly  extended 
in  England,  and  the  more  rapidly,  perhaps,  from  the  endeavours 
made  by  the  reigning  monarch  to  prejudice  his  subjects  against 
it.  A  demand  for  tobacco  being  thus  created,  and  it  being 
already  a  product  of  Virginia,  the  settlers  soon  began  to  culti- 
vate it  for  market;  and  under  the  encouragement  of  the  very 
high  price  it  then  bore,  it  so  engrossed  their  attention  to  the 
neglect  of  their  corn,  that  they  sometimes  suffered  severely  from 
scarcity.  It  long  continued  almost  the  sole  article  of  export, 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS* JEFFERSON.  13 

and  both  from  its  furnishing  the  means  of  remittance  to  Eng- 
land, and  from  the  inadequate  supply  of  the  precious  metals, 
which  they  felt  in  common  with  all  young  and  growing  commu- 
nities, it  became  the  general  measure  of  value,  and  principal 
currency  of  the  colony.  The  members  of  assembly,  the  minis- 
ters of  the  established  church,  the  clerks  of  courts,  and  sheriffs. 
were  all  paid  in  tobacco.  The  payment  of  the  county  and 
parish  levies,  and  most  of  the  public  taxes  was  made  in  the 
same  commodity.  But  as  it  fluctuated  in  price,  rates  were 
sometimes  fixed  by  the  colonial  legislature,  and  sometimes  left 
to  the  discretion  of  the  county  courts,  by  which  the  prices  of 
pork,  maize,  wheat,  and  other  articles  of  general  consumption, 
might  be  paid  in  this  local  currency.  The  quantity  of  exported 
tobacco  gradually  increased  with  the  growth  of  the  colony, 
until  in  1758,  it  reached  seventy  thousand  hogsheads,*  equal 
to  seventy  millions  of  pounds,  since  which  time  the  product  has 
somewhat  diminished. 

As  this  plant  requires  land  of  the  greatest  fertility,  and  its 
finer  sorts  are  produced  only  in  virgin  soil,  which  it  soon  ex- 
hausts, its  culture  has  been  steadily  advancing  westwardly, 
where  fresh  land  is  more  abundant,  leaving  the  eastern  region 
it  has  impoverished  to  the  production  of  Indian  corn,  wheat, 
and  other  grain.  Its  cultivation  has  thus  generally  ceased  in 
the  country  below  the  falls  of  the  great  rivers,  and  in  its  pro- 
gress to  the  west,  the  centre  of  the  tobacco  region  is  now  two 
hundred  miles  from  the  coast. 

The  business  of  cultivating  tobacco  and  preparing  it  for  mar- 
ket, requires  such  continual  attention,  and  so  much,  and  so  many 
sorts  of  handling,  as  to  allow  to  the  planter  little  time  for  any 
of  the  other  useful  processes  of  husbandry;  and  thus  the  man- 
agement of  his  dairy  and  orchard,  and  the  useful  operations  of 
manuring,  irrigation,  and  cultivating  artificial  grasses,  are  either 
conducted  in  a  slovenly  way  or  neglected  altogether.  The 
tobacco  district,  nowhere  exhibits  the  same  external  face  of 


*  The  hogshead,  which  has  been  a  very  varying  quantity,  from  350  Ibs. 
to  1500  Ibs.  or  more,  then  averaged  1000  Ibs. 


14  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

verdure,  or  marks  of  rural  comfort  and  taste,  as  are  to  be  seen 
in  those  counties  in  which  its  culture  has  been  abandoned. 

But  the  most  serious  consequence  of  the  tobacco  cultivation 
is  to  be  found  in  the  increase  of  slaves;  for  though  it  did  not 
occasion  their  first  introduction,  it  greatly  encouraged  their  im- 
portation afterwards.  It  is  to  the  spirit  of  commerce,  which 
in  its  undistinguishing  pursuit  of  gain,  ministers  to  our  vices  no 
less  than  to  our  necessary  wants,  that  Virginia  owes  this  por- 
tentous accession  to  her  population.  A^Dutch  ship  from  the 
coast  of  Guinea  entered  James  River  in  1620,  thirteen  years 
after  the  first  settlement  of  James  Town,  and  sold  twenty  of 
her  slaves  to  the  colonists. 

The  large  profits  which  could  be  made  from  the  labour  of 
slaves,  while  tobacco  sold  at  three  shillings  sterling  a  pound, 
equal  to  about  ten  times  its  ordinary  price  now,  greatly  en- 
couraged their  further  importation,  by  giving  to  the  planters 
the  means  of  purchasing  as  well  as  the  inclination;  and  the 
effect  would  have  been  much  greater,  if  they  had  not  been  con- 
tinually supplied  with  labour  from  the  paupers,  and  sometimes 
the  convicts,  who  were  brought  from  England,  and  sold  to  the 
planters  for  a  term  of  years,  to  defray  the  expenses  of  their 
transportation. 

This  supply  of  English  servants,  together  with  the  gradual 
fall  in  the  price  of  tobacco,  had  so  checked  the  importation  of 
slaves,  that  in  the  year  1671,  according  to  an  official  commu- 
nication from  the  governor,  Sir  William  Berkeley,  while  the 
whole  population  was  but  40,000,  the  number  of  indented  ser- 
vants was  6,000,  and  that  of  the  slaves  was  but  2,000.  The 
importations  of  the  latter,  he  says,  did  not  exceed  two  or  three 
cargoes  in  seven  years,  but  that  of  servants,  of  whom  he  says, 
"most  were  English,  few  Scotch,  and  fewer  Irish,"  he  estimates 
at  1500  annually. 

But  in  process  of  time  slave  labour  was  found  preferable  to 
that  of  indented  white  servants,  partly  because  the  negro  slaves 
were  more  cheaply  fed  and  clothed  than  the  labourers  who 
were  of  the  same  race  as  the  masters,  but  principally  because 
they  were  less  able  to  escape  from  bondage,  and  were  more 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  15 

easily  retaken.  The  colonial  statute  book  affords  abundant 
evidence  of  the  frequency  and  facility  with  which  the  indented 
servants  ran  away  from  their  masters;  and  the  extent  of  the 
mischief  may  be  inferred  from  the  severity  of  its  punishment. 
In  1642,  runaway  servants  were  liable,  for  a  second  offence,  to 
be  branded  on  the  cheek,  though  fifteen  years  afterwards  the 
law  was  so  far  mitigated  as  to  transfer  this  mark  of  ignominy 
to  the  shoulder.  In  1662,  their  term  of  service,  which  did  not 
often  exceed  four  or  five  years,  might,  for  the  offence  of  run- 
ning away,  be  prolonged,  at  the  discretion  of  a  magistrate,  and 
the  master  might  superadd  "moderate  corporal  punishment." 
In  the  following  year,  this  class  of  persons,  prompted  by  the 
convicts  who  had  been  sent  over  after  the  restoration  of  Charles 
the  Second,  formed  a  conspiracy  of  insurrection  and  murder, 
which  was  discovered  just  in  time  to  be  defeated.  Seven  years 
afterwards,  in  1670,  the  governor  and  council  took  upon  them- 
selves to  prohibit  the  further  importation  of  convicts,  whom 
they  call  "jail  birds;"  and  they  assign  this  conspiracy  as  one 
of  their  motives  for  the  order.  The  privilege,  too,  enjoyed  by 
the  servant  of  complaining  to  the  magistrate  for  the  harsh  treat- 
ment of  his  master,  either  as  to  food,  clothing  or  punishment, 
formed,  no  doubt,  a  further  ground  of  preference  for  slaves, 
who  had  no  such  inconvenient  rights. 

Under  the  united  influence  of  these  circumstances  the  num- 
ber of  negro  slaves  so  increased,  that  in  1732,  the  legislature 
thought  proper  to  discourage  their  further  importation  by  a  tax 
on  each  slave  imported;  and  not  to  alarm  the  commercial 
jealousy  of  England,  the  law,  conforming  to  the  notions  of  the 
age,  formally  provided  for  what  no  mode  of  levying  the  tax  could 
have  prevented,  that  the  duty  should  be  paid  by  the  purchaser. 
This  duty  was  at  first  five  per  cent,  on  the  value  of  the  slave, 
but  in  a  few  years  afterwards  (1740)  it  was  increased  to  ten 
per  cent.,  from  which  it  was  never  reduced.  It  did  not,  how- 
ever, prevent  large  importations,  for  we  find  the  number  to 
have  increased  in  119  years  in  the  ratio  of  1  to  146:  that  is, 
from  2,000  in  the  year  1671,  to  293,427  in  1790;  whilst  in  the 
same  period  the  whites  had  increase  only  as  1  to  12,  or  from 


16  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

38,000  to  454,881.  In  the  forty  years  which  have  elapsed  from 
the  first  to  the  last  census,  it  is  gratifying  to  perceive  that  the 
increase  of  the  free  population  in  Virginia,  has  been  somewhat 
greater  than  that  of  the  slaves  in  the  proportion  of  63  per  cent, 
to  60,  and  that  this  comparative  gain  seems  to  be  gradually 
increasing. 

As  Eastern  Virginia  is  everywhere  intersected  by  navigable 
rivers  which  are  skirted  on  either  side  by  rich  alluvial  lands, 
the  early  settlers,  whose  plantations  were  principally  along  the 
margins  of  the  rivers,  were  able  to  carry  on  a  direct  intercourse 
with  foreign  countries  from  their  separate  dwellings.  Thus 
commerce,  by  the  very  diffusion  of  its  most  important  natural 
facilities,  did  not  here  concentrate  in  a  few  favourable  spots, 
and  foster  the  growth  of  towns,  as  in  most  of  the  other  colonies; 
and  at  the  beginning  of  the  revolution,  Williamsburg,  the  seat 
of  government,  and  the  largest  town  in  Virginia,  itself  the  most 
populous  of  the  colonies,  did  not  contain  2,000  inhabitants. 
But  as  the  bees  which  form  no  hive  collect  no  honey,  the  com- 
merce which  was  thus  dispersed,  accumulated  no  wealth.  The 
disadvantages  of  this  dispersion  were  eventually  perceived  by 
the  colonists,  and  many  efforts  were  made  by  the  legislature 
to  remedy  the  mischief  by  authorizing  the  establishment  of  towns 
on  selected  sites,  and  giving  special  privileges  and  immunities  to 
those  who  built  or  those  who  resided  on  them.  Their  purpose 
was  also  favoured,  and  even  stimulated  by  the  government, 
from  fiscal  considerations.  But  most  of  these  legislative  efforts 
failed,  and  none  were  very  successful.  Thus  in  1680,  as  many 
as  twenty  towns  were  authorized  by  act  of  assembly,  being  one 
for  each  county;  yet  at  not  more  than  three  or  four  of  the  de- 
signated spots  is  there  even  a  village  remaining  to  attest  the 
propriety  of  the  selection. 

There  were  indeed  wanting  in  the  colony  all  the  ordinary 
constituents  of  a  large  town.  Here  were  no  manufactories  to 
bring  together  and  employ  the  ingenious  and  industrious.  The 
colonists,  devoting  themselves  exclusively  to  agriculture,  owned 
no  shipping,  which  might  have  induced  them  to  congregate  for 
the  sake  of  carrying  on  their  foreign  commerce  to  more  advan- 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  17 

tage:  here  was  no  court  which,  by  its  splendour  and  amuse- 
ments, might  attract  the  gay,  the  voluptuous  and  the  rich: 
there  was  not  even  a  class  of  opulent  landlords  to  whom  it  is 
as  easy  to  live  on  their  rents  in  town  as  in  the  country,  and  far 
more  agreeable.  But  the  very  richest  planters  all  cultivated 
their  own  land  with  their  own  slaves,  and  while  those  lands  fur- 
nished most  of  the  materials  of  a  generous*  and  even  profuse 
hospitality,  they  could  be  consumed  only  where  they  were  pro- 
duced, and  could  neither  be  transported  to  a  distance,  nor  con- 
verted into  money.  The  tobacco,  which  constituted  the  only 
article  of  export,  served  to  pay  for  the  foreign  luxuries  which 
the  planter  required;  yet,  with  his  social  habits,  it  was  .barely 
sufficient  for  that  purpose,  and  not  a  few  of  the  largest  estates 
were  deeply  in  debt  to  the  Scotch  or  English  merchants,  who 
carried  on  the  whole  commerce  of  the  country.  Nor  was  this 
system  of  credit  more  eagerly  sought  by  the  improvident  planter 
than  it  was  given  by  the  thrifty  and  sagacious  trader;  for  it 
afforded  to  him  a  sure  pledge  for  the  consignment  of  the  debtor's 
crop,  on  the  sales  of  which  his  fair  perquisites  amounted  to  a 
liberal  profit,  and  if  he  was  disposed  to  abuse  his  trust,  his  gains 
were  enormous.  The  merchants  were  therefore  ready  to  ship 
goods,  and  accept  bills  of  exchange  on  the  credit  of  future  crops, 
while  their  factors  in  the  colony  took  care  in  season  to  make 
the  debt  safe  by  a  mortgage  on  the  lands  and  slaves  of  the  plan- 
ter. Some  idea  of  the  pecuniary  thraldom  to  which  the  Virgi- 
nia planter  was  formerly  subjected  may  be  formed  from  the  fact, 
that  twice  a  year,  at  a  general  meeting  of  the  merchants  and 
factors  in  Williamsburg,  they  settled  the  price  of  tobacco,  the 
advance  on  the  sterling  cost  of  goods,  and  the  rate  of  exchange 
with  England.  It  can  scarcely  be  doubted  that  the  regulations 
were  framed  as  much  to  the  advantage  of  the  merchants  as  they 
believed  it  practicable  to  execute.  Yet  it  affords  evidence  of 
the  sagacious  moderation  with  which  this  delicate  duty  was  ex- 
ercised, that  it  was  not  so  abused  as  to  destroy  itself. 

This  state  of  things  exerted  a  decided  inlluence  on  the  man- 
ners and  character  of  the  colonists,  untrained  to  habits  of  busi- 
ness and  possessed  of  the  means  of  hospitality.  They  were  open 

VOL.  I.— 3 


18  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

handed  and  open  hearted:  fond  of  society,  indulging  in  all  its 
pleasures,  and  practising  all  its  courtesies.  But  these  social 
virtues  also  occasionally  ran  into  the  kindred  vices  of  love  of 
show,  haughtiness,  sensuality — and  many  of  the  wealthier  class 
were  to  be  seen  seeking  relief  from  the  vacuity  of  idleness,  not 
merely  in  the  allowable  pleasures  of  the  chase  and  the  turf,  but 
in  the  debasing  ones  of  cock-fighting,  gaming,  and  drinking. 
Literature  was  neglected,  or  cultivated,  by  the  small  number 
who  had  been  educated  in  England,  rather  as  an  accomplish- 
ment and  a  mark  of  distinction  than  for  the  substantial  benefits 
it  confers. 

Let  us  not,  however,  overrate  the  extent  of  these  conse- 
quences of  slavery.  If  the  habitual  exercise  of  authority,  united 
to  a  want  of  steady  occupation,  deteriorated  the  character  of 
some,  it  seemed  to  give  a  greater  elevation  of  virtue  to  others. 
Domestic  slavery  in  fact  places  the  master  in  a  state  of  moral 
discipline,  and  according  to  the  use  he  makes  of  it,  is  he  made 
better  or  worse.  If  he  exercises  his  unrestricted  power  over 
the  slave  in  giving  ready  indulgence  to  his  humours  or  caprice 
— if  he  habitually  yields  to  impulses  of  anger,  and  punishes 
whenever  he  is  disobeyed,  or  obeyed  imperfectly,  he  is  cer- 
tainly the  worse  for  the  institution  which  has  thus  afforded  ali- 
ment to  his  evil  propensities.  But  if,  on  the  other  hand,  he  has 
been  taught  to  curb  these  sallies  of  passion  or  freaks  of  caprice, 
or  has  subjected  himself  to  a  course  of  salutary  restraint,  he  is 
continually  strengthening  himself  in  the  virtues  of  self-denial, 
forbearance,  and  moderation,  and  he  is  all  the  better  for  the 
institution  which  has  afforded  so  much  occasion  for  the  practice 
of  those  virtues.*  If,  therefore,  in  a  slave-holding  country,  we 
see  some  of  the  masters  made  irascible,  cruel  and  tyrannical, 
we  see  many  others  as  remarkable  for  their  mildness,  modera- 
tion and  self-command;  because,  in  truth,  both  the  virtues  of 


*The  character  of  the  Presidents  which  Virginiai-has  furnished  may 
be  appealed  to  for  a  confirmation  of  this  view;  and  many  living  illustra- 
tions will  readily  present  themselves  to  all  who  have  a  personal  know- 
lodge  of  the  southern  states. 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSOX.  19 

the  one  and  the  vices  of  the  other  are  carried  to  the  greater 
extreme  by  the  self-same  process  of  habitual  exercise. 

The  church  of  England  was  the  established  religion  of  Virgi- 
nia. The  whole  colony  was  divided  into  parishes — commonly 
about -two  in  a  county — in  each  of  which  was  a  glebe  and  par- 
sonage house  for  the  minister,  who  also  received  16,000  pounds 
of  tobacco  a  year  from  the  public  treasury.  Great  jealousy 
seems  to  have,  been  entertained  by  the  early  settlers  against 
other  sects,  particularly  the  Quakers.  In  1(560,  all  of  this  sect 
who  came  into  the  colony  were  to  be  imprisoned  until  they 
gave  security  to  leave  it,  and  masters  of  vessels  were  subjected 
to  a  penalty  of  £100  sterling  for  every  quaker  brought  into  the 
country.  Dissenters  from  the  church  of  England,  however,  gra- 
dually increased,  particularly  Presbyterians,  Baptists  and  Metho- 
dists, and  at  the  breaking  out  of  (he  revolution,  they,  according 
to  Mr.  Jefferson,  constituted  one  half*  of  those  who  professed 
themselves  members  of  any  church. 

The  colonial  government  was  modelled  after  that  of  the  mo- 
ther country;  the  Governor,  Council  and  Burgesses  of  Virginia 
corresponding,  in  their  respective  functions,  to  the  king,  lords,  and 
commons  of  England.  There  were  however  the  following  diver- 
sities: During  the  first  year  of  the  colony,  when  it  was  under  the  ' 
government  of  the  Virginia  Company,  the  Governor,  Council 
and  Burgesses  sat  together  in  the  same  room,  and  formed  a 
single  body,  called  "the  Grand  Assembly."  The  same  thing 
afterwards  took  place  during  the  greater  part  of  the  time  of  the 
Commonwealth.  The  Governor  and  Council,  too,  in  their  ju- 
dicial character,  exercised  original  as  well  as  appellate  juris- 
diction, and  appeals  from  their  decision  lav  to  the  General 
Assembly.  These  appeals  were  abolished  in  1683,  by  an  exer- 
cise of  the  royal  prerogative;  but  the  judicial  functions  of  the 
Governor  and  Council,  constituting  the  General  Court,  continued 
throughout  the  regal  government.  The  number  of  Councillors 
was  limited  to  sixteen,  though  their  places  were  seldom  all  filled; 


*Mr.  Madison  thinks  that  ihe  proportion  of  Dissenters  was  consider- 
ably less. 


20        .  THE   LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

and  they  were  selected  by  the  Crown  from  those  of  the  inhabit- 
ants who  were  recommended  by  their  wealth,  station  and  loy- 
alty. The  House  of  Burgesses,  in  the  year  1743,  consisted  of 
eighty  members,  to  wit:  seventy-six  from  thirty-eight  counties, 
three  from  the  towns  of  Williamsburg,  James  Town,  and  Norfolk, 
and  one  from  William  and  Mary  College. 

The  political  sentiments  of  the  planters  were  manifested  very 
differently  in  their  relations  with  each  other,  ana  in  the  con- 
cerns of  the  whole  province  with  the  mother  country.  Whilst, 
in  the  latter  relation,  they,  with  few  exceptions,  shewed  them- 
selves zealous  asserters  of  their  civil  rights,  in  the  colony  itself 
there  was  exhibited  a  strong  aristocratic.il  spirit,  which  se- 
veral circumstances  had  contributed  to  produce.  The  great 
number  of  indented  servants,  who  for  near  a  century,  consti- 
tuted the  largest  portion  of  their  agricultural  labour,  and  who 
•were  subjected  to  a  rigour  of  authority  not  known  in  England, 
had  always  divided  the  colonists  into  two  distinct  classes:  and 
if  manv  of  the  degraded  caste,  after  their  term  of  service  was 
expired,  had  by  thrift  and  good  management,  acquired  land  and 
even  wealth,  yet  their  former  condition  was  not  forgotten;  and 
it  was  only  in  the  second  or  third  generation,  that  the  original 
line  of  distinction  was  effaced.  The  introduction  of  slaves  tend- 
ed to  increase  and  confirm  this  inequality.  The  wealthy  planter, 
living  on  a  large  estate,  where  he  saw  none  but  obliged  guests 
or  obsequious  slaves-— commonly  invested,  moreover,  with  powers 
legislative,  judicial,  or  military,  and  sometimes  with  all  united, 
was  likely  to  have  a  high  sense  of  personal  dignity  and  self  im- 
portance. Their  form  of  civil  polity  and  the  prevailing  reli- 
gion, endowed  as  it  was  with  exclusive  privileges,  contributed 
in  some  degree  to  the  same  end.  The  aristocratic  feeling,  thus 
produced,  variously  manifested  itself  in  the  colonial  laws.  The 
whole  public  expenditure  was  defrayed  by  a  capitation  tax, 
levied  on  all  males  bond  or  free,  above  sixteen  years  of  age,  and 
all  female  slaves  above  the  same  age,  by  which  every  other  dif- 
ference in  property,  except  as  to  slaves,  was  disregarded;  and  as 
to  a  part  of  the  tax,  the  poorest  man  paid  as  much  as  the  richest, 
since  the  expense  of  making  and  repairing  the  pitblic  roads  was 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFEUSOX.  21 

borne  equally  by  all  males  over  sixteen:  the  right  of  suffrage 
was  limited  to  freeholders,  except  during  a  part  of  the  time  of 
the  Commonwealth,  and  a  few  years  afterwards;  slaves  were 
regarded  as  real  estate  for  the  purpose  of  being  annexed  to  the 
land,  and  of  transmitting  an  undivided  inheritance  to  the  heir: 
and  lastly,  in  1705,  a  law  was  passed  to  take  away  from  the 
courts  the  power  of  defeating  entails,  as  had  been  the  practice 
in  the  colony,  and  was  still  permitted  in  England. 

The  high  wages  of  the  members  of  assembly  may  be  regarded 
as  a  further  evidence  of  the  same  aristocratic  injustice.  Their 
compensation,  during  the  reign  of  Charles  the  First,  was  150 
pounds  of  tobacco  a  day,  besides  the  expense  of  horses  and  a 
servant,  amounting  to  about  100  pounds  more.  After  allowing 
both  for  the  lower  money  price  of  tobacco  at  that  period,  and 
the  greater  value  of  the  precious  metals,  this  daily  compen- 
sation must  be  deemed  equal  to  eight  or  ten  dollars  at  the  pre- 
sent time:  and  as  it  was  paid  by  the  several  counties  to  their 
respective  members,  we  cannot  wonder  that  it  was  one  of  the 
grounds  of  popular  complaint  in  the  insurrection  in  1676,  under 
Nathaniel  Bacon.*  In  1677,  this  complaint  seemed  to  the  com- 
missioners sent  from  England  so  well  founded,  that,  on  their 
recommendation,  the  wages  of  the  members  were  greatly  re- 
duced. 

*AIthough  the  immediate  cause  of  the  people's  taking  up  arms  in  that 
civil  commotion,  was  to  defend  themselves  against  the  Indians,  who  were 
then  ravaging  the  frontier,  and  who  found  impunity  in  the  tardy  and  in- 
decisive measures  of  an  aged  Governor,  yet  after  they  had  taken  the 
means  of  redress  into  their  own  hands,  and  returned  from  their  expedi- 
tion against  the  Indians,  other  causes  of  popular  discontent  in  the  laws 
themselves  were  the  subject  of  loud  complaint,  and  became  the  reason 
or  afforded  a  pretext  for  Bacon  to  keep  his  force  embodied,  and  finally 
to  assume  the  attitude  of  open  war.  One  of  the  grievances  complained 
of  was,  that  all  the  revenue  was  raised  by  a  poll  tax,  by  which  the  weal- 
thy landholder  contributed  nothing,  except  so  far  as  he  was  an  owner  of 
slaves.  This  injustice  was  the  more  felt  on  account  of  the  recent  in- 
crease of  taxes  for  the  purpose  of  purchasing  up  the  improvident  grant 
made  by  Charles  the  Second  to  two  court  favourites.  They  also  com- 
plained of  the  high  wages  of  the  members  of  assembly,  and  the.high  lees 
to  other  public  officers;  all  indicating  that  the  power  of  the  government 
was  exercised  for  the  benefit  of  a  lew  at  the  expense  of  the  many. 


22  THE  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

Persons  thus  clothed  with  power  and  authority,  and  accus- 
tomed to  its  exercise,  were  not  likely  to  prove  the  most  sub- 
missive of  subjects;  and  though  there  was  probably  always  a 
court  and  a  country  party  in  Virginia  as  well  as  in  England, 
yet,  by  far  the  larger  part  of  the  aristocracy  of  the  colony  sided 
with  the  whigs  in  all  the  disputes  with  the  crown,  or  its  colonial 
representative,  the  Governor.  Indeed,  the  spirit  of  resistance 
to  illegal  or  oppressive  exertions  of  the  royal  prerogative,  seems 
never  to  have  been  long  dormant,  from  the  year  1624,  when 
Virginia  ceased  to  be  a  proprietary  government,  until  the  pe- 
riod of  separation. 

The  annals  of  the  colony,  meagre  as  they  unfortunately  are, 
afford  abundant  evidence  of  this  firm  and  independent  spirit. 
Thus,  in  1G31,  the  Council  and  the  House  of  Burgesses  united 
in  the  bold  step  of  sending  the  Governor,  Sir  Matthew  Harvey, 
a  prisoner  to  England,  to  be  tried  for  the  tyrannical  acts  of  his 
administration.  In  ]  G57,  when  the  colony,  which  had  espoused 
the  royal  cause,  capitulated  to  the  force  sent  out  by  Cromwell, 
his  Commissioners  expressly  stipulated  with  the  House  of  Bur- 
gesses, that  tlfe  people  of  Virginia  "should  have  and  enjoy  such 
freedom  and  privileges  as  belong  to  the  freeborn  people  of  Eng- 
land; that  trade  should  also  be  as  free  in  Virginia  as  in  England; 
and  that  no  tax,  custom  or  imposition  should  belaid  in  Virginia, 
nor  forts  nor  castles  erected  therein  without  the  consent  of  the 
Grand  Assembly." 

In  1G73,  Charles  the  Second  having  granted  the  whole  pro- 
vince of  Virginia  to  the  lords  Culpepper  and  Arlington  for 
thirty-one  years,  with  the  power  to  grant  waste  lands,  receive 
quit  rents,  form  new  counties,  erect  courts,  and  exercise  similar 
acts  of  sovereignty,  the  colonists  took  alarm,  and  employed 
agents  in  England  to  apply  to  the  crown,  first  for  leave  to  pur- 
chase up  this  grant,  and  then  for  a  new  charter,  which  would 
secure  the  colony  not  only  from  the  repetition  of  similar  grants, 
but  from  other  invasions  of  their  rights.  The  application  to  the 
King's  privy  council  by  the  colony's  agents,  set  forth  ten  pro- 
visions, which  they  asked  that  their  new  charter  should  contain; 
one  of  which  was,  "that  no  tax  or  imposition  should  be  laid  on 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  23 

the  people  of  Virginia  but  by  the  Grand  Assembly."  After 
the  negotiation  of  more  than  a  year,  the  king,  in  conformity 
with  the  recommendation  of  his  council,  consented  to  all  the 
requests,  and  directed  a  charter  to  be  prepared  accordingly. 
But  either  before  the  charter  was  executed,  or,  as  some  say, 
after  execution,  but  before  delivery,  the  news  of  Bacon's  rebel- 
lion caused  it  to  be  stopped,  and  another  substituted,  in  which, 
to  the  great  disappointment  of  the  colonists,  the  most  important 
provisions,  including  the  one  respecting  taxation,  was  omitted. 

In  1677,  the  House  of  Burgesses  made  a  spirited  opposition 
to  an  invasion  of  their  privileges  by  the  agents  of  the  crown. 
The  Commissioners  who  had  been  sent  out  from  England  to 
investigate  the  circumstances  of  Bacon's  rebellion,  and  who 
had  been  invested  with  a  general  power  of  sending  for  persons 
and  papers,  had  demanded  the  journals  of  the  House.  This 
demand  the  Burgesses  peremptorily  refused;  and  their  Clerk 
being  afterwards  compelled  by  the  Commissioners  to  surrender 
them,  the  House,  at  its  next  session,  after  reciting  this  "act  of 
illegal  violence,"  declared  their  belief  that  "his  majesty  would 
not  grant"  this  power  to  the  Commissioner,  for  they  "find  not 
the  same  to  have  been  practised  by  any  of  the  kings  of  England;" 
they  did,  therefore,  "take  the  same  to  be  a  violation  of  their 
privileges."  They  asked,  moreover,  for  satisfactory  assurances 
that  "no  such  violation  of  their  privileges  should  be  offered  for 
the  future." 

This  declaration  of  the  Assembly,  Charles,  in  his  instructions 
to  lord  Culpepper,  the  Governor  of  Virginia,  stigmatizes  as  "se- 
ditious," and  requires  him  to  have  erased  from  their  proceed- 
ings. 

From  this  time,  until  the  revolution  of  1688,  the  Governor 
of  Virginia  and  the  Assembly  seem  to  have  been  in  a  state  of 
continual  collision.  The  popular  and  the  government  parties 
were  more  distinctly  marked,  and  in  a  higher  state  of  irritation 
against  each  other  than  at  any  previous  period,  occasioned 
partly  by  the  mutual  injuries  inflicted  during  Bacon's  insur- 
rection, and  yet  more  by  the  vindictive  course  of  the  Governor 
and  the  Royalists  which  succeeded  it,  and  partly  from  the  more 


24  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

liberal  notions  of  popular  rights  and  constitutional  law,  which 
the  progress  of  knowledge,  and  the  discussions  provoked  by  the 
arbitrary  measures  of  the  House  of  Stuart  had  produced  in 
every  part  of  the  British  dominions. 

In  the  year  1685  these  bickerings  rose  to  their  greatest 
height.  The  Governor  of  Virginia,  lord  Howard,  had,  by  pro- 
clamationj  declared,  that  since  an  act  of  Assembly  of  1682, 
which  repealed  another  act  of  1680,  had  not  received  the  royal 
assent,  the  act  supposed  to  be  repealed  was  still  in  force.  The 
House  of  Burgesses  conceiving  that  the  power  now  asserted, 
might,  by  suspending  the  exercise  of  the  royal  negative  on  the 
colonial  laws,  be  used  to  revive  laws  that  had  been  long  disused, 
and  which  every  one  supposed  to  have  been  repealed,  made 
such  a  spirited  remonstrance  against  this  and  other  offensive  acts 
of  the  government  that  the  Governor  prorogued  the  Assembly. 

The  reigning  monarch,  James  the  Second,  in  a  letter  to  lord 
Howard,  passes  a  harsh  censure  on  these  "irregular  and  tumul- 
tuous" proceedings  of  the  House,  the  members  of  which,  for 
thus  presuming  to  question  the  negative  voice  entrusted  to  the 
Governor,  he  does  not  hesitate  to  charge  with  "disaffected  and 
unquiet  dispositions,"  and  with  purposely  protracting  their  time 
on  account  of  their  wages,  and  he  therefore  directs  the  Gover- 
nor to  dissolve  the  Assembly.  As  the  high  wages  of  the  mem- 
bers had  long  been  a  subject  of  complaint,  the  Governor  con- 
descended to  touch  this  popular  string,  by  directing  the  king's 
letter  "to  be  publicly  read  in  every  County  court,  that  the  in- 
habitants and  Burgesses  may  be  made  sensible  how  displeasing 
such  obstinate  proceedings  were  to  his  Majesty." 

This  disagreement  continued  until  1689,  when,  on  the  acces- 
sion of  William  and  Mary,  the  liberal  principles  of  the  revolu- 
tion prevailed,  and  produced  a  more  conciliatory  course  towards 
the  colonies.  From  this  time  until  1764,  when  the  stamp  act 
was  proposed,  there  was  no  collision  between  either  the  crown 
or  its  representative  and  the  Assembly,  of  sufficient  importance 
to  attract  the  notice  of  historians,  except  the  illegal  fee  for  pa- 
tents claimed  by  Governor  Dinwiddie  in  1754.  This  the  As- 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  25 

sembly  voted  "illegal  and  oppressive."     They  even  sent  an 
agent  to  England  expressly  to  procure  its  repeal. 

While  the  rapid  growth  of  Virginia,  and  the  other  English 
provinces  of  America  presented  to  England  strong  temptations  to 
draw  a  revenue  from  them,  and  so  to  restrict  their  industry  as 
to  prevent  their  future  rivalship  with  the  mother  country  in 
commerce  or  manufactures,  the  same  career  of  prosperity  was 
continually  presenting  to  the  colonies  greater  power  of  resist- 
ance, and  greater  inducements  to  use  it.  With  such  inherent 
motives  to  discord  and  repulsion,  it  was  morally  impossible  that 
they  could  permanently  continue  members  of  the  same  govern- 
ment; and,  sooner  or  later,  the  separation  was  inevitable.  But 
that  great  event  was  undoubtedly  hastened  by  the  wavering 
and  ill  digested  policy  of  the  ministers  of  George  the  Third,  who 
pursued  a  course  by  which  they  attained  the  benefits  neither 
of  firmness  nor  moderation;  and  in  which,  from  the  time  the 
project  of  levying  a  tax  in  America  was  formed,  every  measure 
taken  by  the  administration  was  regarded  by  the  colonists,  if 
oppressive,  as  a  proof  of  their  danger,  and  if  conciliatory,  as 
an  admission  of  their  strength. 


VOL.  I.— 4 


26 


CHAPTER  II. 


Birth  and  parentage  of  Thomas  Jefferson.  His  Education.  Sent  to 
College.  Dr.  Small.  His  amusements.  Description  of  his  person. 
His  familiar  letters  to  John  Page.  Governor  Fauquier.  Studies  law 
under  George  Wythe.  Visits  Annapolis  and  Philadelphia.  His  cha- 
racter as  a  lawyer.  Patrick  Henry.  The  stamp  act.  Is  elected  to 
the  General  Assembly.  It  denies  the  right  of  Great  Britain  to  tax  the 
colonies.  The  members  meet  at  the  Raleigh  Tavern.  Progress  of 
discontents. 

THOMAS  JEFFERSON  was  born  on  the  2nd  day  of  April,  1743,  at 
a  place  called  Shadwell,  in  what  is  now  the  county  of  Albe- 
marle,  but  which  then  constituted  a  part  of  the  county  of 
Goochland.  Though  at  present  very  near  the  centre  of  popu- 
lation of  Virginia,  it  was  at  that  period  almost  a  frontier  settle- 
ment; and  six  years  before,  when  his  father  first  seated  himself 
on  it,  he  found  but  three  or  four  settlers  in  that  part  of  the 
country:  yet  such  has  been  the  progress  of  population,  during 
a  single  life,  that  the  settlements  had  extended,  at  the  time  of 
Mr.  Jefferson's  death,  nearly  800  miles  farther  west. 

His  family,  on  the  father's  side,  was,  according  to  tradition, 
originally  Welch,  but  the  time  when  it  first  migrated  to  America 
does  not  appear.  It  has  been  traced  back  no  farther  than  to  Mr. 
Jefferson's  grandfather,  who  lived  at  Osborne's,  in  the  county 
of  Chesterfield,  and  who  had  three  sons.  Of  these,  Thomas  died 
young,  Field  settled  on  the  southern  border  of  the  state,  and 
left  numerous  descendants,  and  Peter,  the  father  of  the  subject 
of  this  memoir,  settled  at  Shadwell,  as  has  been  mentioned. 
His  mother  was  Jane  Randolph,  of  a  numerous  and  wealthy 
family  in  Virginia,  who,  he  says,  "trace  their  pedigree  far  back 
in  England  and  Scotland,"  to  which,  he  adds,  "let  every  one 


THE   LIFE   OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  27 

ascribe  the  faith  and  merit  he  chooses."  He  had  a  brother 
younger  than  himself,  and  six  sisters. 

He  was  put  to  an  English  school  at  five  years  of  age,  and  at 
nine  he  was  placed  under  a  Mr.  Douglas,  a  Scotch  clergyman, 
at  whose  school  he  was  instructed  in  the  Latin,  Greek,  and 
French  languages,  until  he  was  thirteen,  at  which  time  he  lost 
his  father.  He  then  was  sent  to  the  school  of  Mr.  Maury,  where 
he  continued  two  years.  He  acquired  from  this  gentleman, 
who  was  a  good  scholar,  a  taste  for  classical  learning,  which 
he  retained  ever  afteVwards. 

Mr.  James  Maury,  the  late  estimable  American  consul  at 
Liverpool,  and  who  still  survives,  is  the  son  of  Mr.  Jefferson's 
preceptor,  and  was  his  classmate.  According  to  this  gentle- 
man, Thomas  Jefferson  was  distinguished  at  school  for  diligence 
and  proficiency.  He  farther  says,  that  whenever  young  Jeffer- 
son was  desirous  of  a  holiday,  he  seemed,  from  a  certain  shyness 
of  disposition,  averse  to  soliciting  it  himself,  but  would  prevail 
upon  some  of  his  school-fellows  to  make  the  application;  and  if 
it  proved  successful,  he  immediately  withdrew  to  some  place  of 
quiet,  where  he  remained  until  he  had  made  himself  master  of 
the  task  set  for  the  class,  after  which  he  rejoined  his  young  asso- 
ciates, and  entered  as  heartily  as  any  one  into  their  sports  and 
recreations.*  One  of  these  was  hunting  in  a  neighbouring  moun- 
tain, part  of  the  south-west  range,  which  traverses  Albemarle, 
and  which  then  and  many  years  afterwards  abounded  with 
deer,  wild  turkies  and  other  game.  It  was  in  the  pure  air  of 
these  mountains,  and  in  the  exercise  of  these  manly  sports,  that 
he  acquired  that  vigour  of  constitution  which  his  erect  carriage 
and  light  step  exhibited  to  the  last. 

At  the  age  of  seventeen  he  was  sent  to  William  and  Mary, 
the  only  college  in  the  colony,  where  he  remained  two  years; 
and  to  the  advantages  he  here  enjoyed,  he,  not  without  reason, 

*When  Mr.  Jefferson,  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Maury,  fifty-seven  years  after- 
wards, reproached  himself  with  the  habit  of  procrastination,  this  com- 
panion of  his  early  years  must  have  thought  him  greatly  altered  in  this 
particular.  But  in  truth  he  was  not  changed,  and  his  self-condemnation 
only  shows  that  punctual  and  industrious  as  he  really  was,  he  fell  short 
of  the  standard  he  aimed  at. 


28  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

attributes  a  decisive  influence  on  his  character  and  future  des- 
tiny. Dr.  William  Small,  who  was  a  native  of  Scotland,  and 
then  professor  of  mathematics  at  William  and  Mary,  seems  to 
have  added  liberal  sentiments  and  urbane  manners  to  a  large 
stock  of  science,  as  well  as  skill  in  communicating  it;  and  won 
hy  his  pupil's  modesty,  docility,  and  love  of  study,  he  soon  formed 
for  him  so  strong  an  attachment  as  to  make  him  his  daily  com- 
panion. By  the  same  professor,  he  was  initiated  in  the  arcana 
of  general  science,  and  more  especially  instructed  in  mathema- 
tics, ethics  and  belles-lettres.  The  value  of  such  a  friend  and 
preceptor  to  such  a  pupil,  is  scarcely  to  be  estimated.  But  for 
the  incidents  of  so  varied  a  course  of  instruction,  it  may  be  fairly 
presumed  that  Mr.  Jefferson  would  not  have  been  the  author  of 
the  papers  which  gave  him  reputation,  before  he  joined  the  first 
congress,  and  without  which  reputation  he  would  not  have  been 
placed  on  the  committee  that  drew  the  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence; or,  if  we  can  believe  that  he  would  nevertheless  have 
been,  in  the  first  place,  one  of  the  seven  delegates  from  Virginia, 
and  in  the  next,  one  of  that  memorable  committee,  we  may 
safely  say  that  the  Declaration,  as  well  as  other  papers  drawn 
by  him,  would  have  been  far  less  worthy  of  their  elevated  pur- 
poses, and  less  an  object  of  pride  to  the  nation,  and  of  honour  to 
their  author. 

It  was  probably  to  that  diversity  of  knowledge  with  which 
he  was  here  imbued,  and  which  characterizes  the  Scotch  sys- 
tem of  instruction,  that  Mr.  Jefferson  owed  the  general  taste  for 
science  for  which  he  was  always  distinguished  among  his  com- 
patriots; and  although  his  time  was  chiefly  given  to  the  more 
pressing  duties  of  legislator,  diplomatist,  or  statesman,  there  were 
few  Americans  in  his  day  who  could  boast  of  equal  attain- 
ments in  science  and  learning. 

Whilst  he  was  at  college,  he  participated  in  the  pleasures 
and  amusements  common  to  his  age,  without  neglecting  his 
studies.  His  favourite  recreations  were  music  and  riding,  and 
he  is  said  to  have  been  a  good  horseman,  and  to  have  performed 
well  on  the  violin.  His  bosonr  friend  was  the  late  Governor 
Page,  who  had  a  correspondent  relish  for  science  and  classical 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  29 

literature.  Their  friendship,  founded  on  congeniality  of  taste 
and  disposition,  continued  without  interruption  through  life. 
Some  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  letters  to  this  friend,  soon  after  he  left 
college,  have  been  preserved,  and  extracts  from  them  are  now 
given,  not  because  they  indicate  any  extraordinary  talent  in  the 
writer,  but  because  they  give  us  some  insight  into  his  character, 
before  it  had  received  any  modification  from  his  commerce  with 
the  world,  and  make  us  acquainted  with  circumstances  of  which 
there  is  no  other  existing  memorial.* 

Like  most  young  collegians,  at  least  of  his  day,  he  seems  to 
have  fallen  in  love  in  William^burg;  and  although  the  corre- 
spondence which  gives  us  the  beginning  of  this  little  episode  in 
his  life,  does  not  inform  us  also  of  the  conclusion,  it  leaves  us 
to  infer  that  it  ended  in  disappointment  on  his  part.  It  is  agreed 
by  Mr.  Jefferson's  cotemporaries  that  he  was  not  handsome  in 
his  youth.  He  was  tall,  thin,  and  rawboned;  had  red  hair,  a 
freckled  face,  and  pointed  features.  But  with  these  disadvan- 
tages of  exterior,  his  countenance  was  so  highly  expressive  of 
intelligence  and  benevolence,  he  conversed  so  fluently  and  sen- 
sibly, and  such  a  vein  of  pleasantry  ran  through  his  discourse, 
that  he  was  even  then  a  favourite  with  the  sex;  and  as  he  ad- 
vanced in  life,  when  the  expression  of  the  features  becomes 
more  marked,  and  more  enters  into  our  estimate  of  manly  beau- 
ty, he  was  esteemed  a  very  good  looking  man  in  middle  age, 
and  quite  a  handsome  old  man.  But  to  return  to  his  youthful 
correspondence: 

Fairfield,  December  25,  1762. 
Dear  Page: 

This  very  day,  to  others  the  day  of  greatest  mirth  and  jollity, 
sees  me  overwhelmed  with  more  and  greater  misfortunes  than 
have  befallen  a  descendant  of  Adam  for  these  thousand  years 
past  I  am  sure:  and  perhaps,  after  excepting  Job,  since  the 

*I  am  indebted  to  John  Page,  Esq.  for  these  letters  to  his  father.  They 
are  probably  the  earliest  specimens  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  epistolary  writing 
extant.  They  are  marked  by  the  same  graces  of  ease  and  simplicity 
which  characterize  his  subsequent  compositions. 


30  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

creation  of  the  world.  I  think  his  misfortunes  were  somewhat 
greater  than  mine:  for  although  we  may  be  pretty  nearly  on 
a  level  in  other  respects,  yet,  I  thank  my  God,  I  have  the  advan- 
tage of  brother  Job  in  this,  that  Satan  has  not  as  yet  put  forth 
his  hand  to  load  me  with  bodily  afflictions.  You  must  know, 
dear  Page,  that  I  am  now  in  a  house  surrounded  with  enemies 
who  take  counsel  together  against  my  soul;  and  when  I  lay  me 
down  to  rest,  they  say  among  themselves,  come  let  us  destroy 
him.  I  am  sure  if  there  is  such  a  thing  as  a  Devil  in  this  world, 
he  must  have  been  here  last  night  and  have  had  some  hand  in 
contriving  what  happened  to  me.  Do  you  think  the  cursed 
rats  (at  his  instigation,  I  suppose)  did  not  eat  up  my  pocket-book, 
which  was  in  my  pocket,  within  a  foot  of  my  head?  And  not 
contented  with  plenty  for  the  present,  they  carried  away  my 
jemmy  worked  silk  garters,  and  half  a  dozen  new  minuets  I 
had  just  got,  to  serve,  I  suppose,  as  provision  for  the  winter. 
But  of  this  I  should  not  have  accused  the  Devil,  (because,  you 
know  rats  will  be  rats,  and  hunger,  without  the  addition  of  his 
instigations,  might  have  urged  them  to  do  this,)  if  something 
worse,  and  from  a  different  quarter,  had  not  happened.  You 
know  it  rained  last  night,  or  if  you  do  not  know  it,  1  am  sure  I 
do.  When  I  went  to  bed,  I  laid  my  watch  in  the  usual  place, 
and  going  to  take  her  up  after  I  arose  this  morning,  I  found  her 
in  the  same  place,  it's  true,  but!  Quantum  mutatus  ab  illo!  all 
afloat  in  water,  let  in  at  a  leak  in  the  roof  of  the  house,  and  as 
silent  and  still  as  the  rats  that  had  eat  my  pocket-book.  Now, 
you  know,  if  chance  had  had  any  thing  to  do  in  this  matter, 
there  were  a  thousand  other  spots  where  it  might  have  chanced 
to  leak  as  well  as  at  this  one,  which  was  perpendicularly  over 
my  watch.  But  I'll  tell  you;  it's  my  opinion  that  the  Devil  came 
and  bored  the  hole  over  it  on  purpose.  Well,  as  I  was  saying, 
my  poor  watch  had  lost  her  speech.  I  should  not  have  cared 
much  for  this,  but  something  worse  attended  it;  the  subtle  par- 
ticles of  the  water  with  which  the  case  was  filled,  had,  by  their 
penetration,  so  overcome  the  cohesion  of  the  particles  of  the 
paper,  of  which  my  dear  picture  and  watch  paper  were  com- 
posed, that,  in  attempting  to  take  them  out  to  dry  them,  good 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  31 

God!  Mens  horret  referre!  My  cursed  fingers  gave  them  such  a 
rent,  as  J  fear  I  never  shall  get  over.  This,  cried  I,  was  the 
last  stroke  Satan  had  in  reserve  for  me;  he  knew  I  cared  not 
for  any  thing  else  he  could  do  to  me,  and  was  determined  to 
try  this  last  most  fatal  expedient.  'Multis  fortunes  vulneribus 
percussus,  hide  uni  me  imparem  sensi,  et  penitus  succubui!'  I 
would  have  cried  bitterly,  but  I  thought  it  beneath  the  dignity 
of  a  man,  and  a  man  too  who  had  read  <n»v  OVTW,  T*  p®  f$'»pn,  *& 
fax.  «}'£jMv.  However,  whatever  misfortunes  may  attend  the  pic- 
ture or  lover,  my  hearty  prayers  shall  be,  that  all  the  health 
and  happiness  which  Heaven  can  send  may  be  the  portion  of 
the  original,  and  that  so  much  goodness  may  ever  meet  with 
what  may  be  most  agreeable  in  this  world,  as  I  am  sure  it 
must  be  in  the  next.  And  now,  although  the  picture  be  defaced, 
there  is  so  lively  an  image  of  her  imprinted  in  my  mind,  that  I 
shall  think  of  her  too  often,  I  fear,  for  my  peace  of  mind;  and 
too  often,  I  am  sure,  to  get  through  old  Coke  this  winter;  for 
God  knows  I  have  not  seen  him  since  I  packed  him  up  in  my 
trunk  in  Williamsburgh.  Well,  Page,  I  do  wish  the  Devil  had 
old  Coke,  for  I  am  sure  I  never  was  so  tired  of  an  old  dull  scoun- 
drel in  my  life.  What!  are  there  so  few  inquietudes  tacked  to 
this  momentary  life  of  our's,  that  we  must  need  be  loading  our- 
selves with  a  thousand  more?  Or,  as  brother  Job  says,  (who,  by 
the  bye,  I  think  began  to  whine  a  little  under  his  afflictions,) 
"Are  not  my  days  few?  Cease  then,  that  I  may  take  comfort 
a  little  before  I  go  whence  I  shall  not  return,  even  to  the  land 
of  darkness,  and  the  shadow  of  death."  But  the  old  fellows  say 
we  must  read  to  gain  knowledge,  and  gain  knowledge  to  make 
us  happy  and  be  admired.  Mere  jargon!  Is  there  any  such  thing 
as  happiness  in  this  world?  No.  And  as  for  admiration,  I  am 
sure  the  man  who  powders  most,  perfumes  most,  embroiders 
most,  and  talks  most  nonsense,  is  most  admired.  Though  to  be 
candid,  there  are  some  who  have  too  much  good  sense  to  esteem 
such  monkey-like  animals  as  these,  in  whose  formation,  as  the 
saying  is,  the  tailors  and  barbers  go  halves  with  God  Almighty; 
and  since  these  are  the  only  persons  whose  esteem  is  worth  a 


32  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

wish,  1  do  not  know  but  that,  upon  the  whole,  the  advice  of 
these  old  fellows  may  be  worth  following. 

You  cannot  conceive  the  satisfaction  it  would  give  me  to  have 
a  letter  from  you.  Write  me  very  circumstantially  every  thing 
which  happened  at  the  wedding.  Was  she  there?  because,  if 
she  was,  I  ought  to  have  been  at  the  Devil  for  not  being  there 
too.  If  there  is  any  news  stirring  in  town  or  country,  such  as 
deaths,  courtships,  or  marriages,  in  the  circle  of  my  acquaint- 
ance, let  me  know  it.  Remember  me  affectionately  to  all  the 
young  ladies  of  my  acquaintance,  particularly  the  Miss  Bur- 
wells,  and  Miss  Potters,  and  tell  them  that  though  that  heavy 
earthly  part  of  me,  my  body,  be  absent,  the  better  half  of  me, 
my  soul,  is  ever  with  them;  and  that  my  best  wishes  shall  ever 
attend  them.  Tell  Miss  Alice  Corbin  that  I  verily  believe  the 
rats  knew  I  was  to  win  a  pair  of  garters  from  her,  or  they 
never  would  have  been  so  cruel  as  to  carry  mine  away.  This 
very  consideration  makes  me  so  sure  of  the  bet,  that  I  shall  ask 
every  body.  I  see  from  that  part  of  the  world  what  pretty 
gentleman  is  making  his  addresses  to  her.  I  would  fain  ask  the 
favour  of  Miss  Becca  Burwell  to  give  me  another  watch  paper 
of  her  own  cutting,  which  I  should  esteem  much  more,  though 
it  were  a  plain  round  one,  than  the  nicest  in  the  world  cut  by 
other  hands — however,  I  am  afraid  she  would  think  this  pre- 
sumption, after  my  suffering  the  other  to  get  spoiled.  If  you 
think  you  can  excuse  me  to  her  for  this,  I  should  be  glad  if  you 
would  ask  her.  Tell  Miss  Sukey  Potter  that  I  heard,  just  be- 
fore I  came  out  of  town,  that  she  v\as  offended  with  me  about 
something,  what  it  is  I  do  not  know;  but  this  I  know,  that  I 
never  was  guilty  of  the  least  disrespect  to  her  in  my  life,  either 
in  word  or  deed;  as  far  from  it  as  it  has  been  possible  for  one 
to  be.  I  suppose  when  we  meet  next,  she  will  be  endeavouring 
to  repay  an  imaginary  affront  with  a  real  one:  but  she  may 
save  herself  the  trouble,  for  nothing  that  she  can  say  or  do  to 
me  shall  even  lessen  her  in  my  esteem,  and  I  am  determined 
always  to  look  upon  her  as  the  same  honest-hearted,  good-hu- 
moured, agreeable  lady  I  ever  did.  Tell—tell—in  short,  tell 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  33 

them  all  ten  thousand  things  more  than  either  you  or  I  can  now 
or  ever  shall  think  of  as  long  as  we  live. 

My  mind  has  been  so  taken  up  with  thinking  of  my  acquaint- 
ances, that,  till  this  moment,  I  almost  imagined  myself  in  Wil- 
liamsburg,  talking  to  you  in  our  old  unreserved  way;  and  never 
observed,  till  I  turned  over  the  leaf,  to  what  an  immoderate  size 
I  had  swelled  my  letter — however,  that  I  may  not  tire  your 
patience  by  further  additions,  I  will  make  but  this  one  more, 
that  I  am  sincerely  and  affectionately, 

Dear  Page,  your  friend  and  servant, 

T.  jEFFERSOiV. 

P.  S.  1  am  now  within  an  easy  day's  ride  of  Shadwell,  whither 
I  shall  proceed  in  two  or  three  days. 

Shadwell,  Jan.  20th,  1763. 
Dear  Page, 

To  tell  you  the  plain  truth,  I  have  not  a  syllable  to  write  to 
you  about.  For  T  do  not  conceive  that  any  thing  can  happen 
in  my  world  which  you  would  give  a  curse  to  know,  or  I  either. 
All  things  here  appear  to  me  to  trudge  on  in  one  and  the  same 
round:  we  rise  in  the  morning  that  we  may  eat  breakfast,  dinner 
and  supper,  and  go  to  bed  again  that  we  may  get  up  the  next 
morning  and  do  the  same:  so  that  you  never  saw  two  peas  more 
alike  than  our  yesterday  and  to-day.  Under  these  circumstances, 
what  would  you  have  me  say?  Would  you  that  I  should  write 
nothing  but  truth?  I  tell  you  I  know  nothing  that  is  true.  Or 
would  you  rather  that  I  should  write  you  a  pack  of  lies?  Why, 
unless  they  were  more  ingenious  than  I  am  able  to  invent,  they 
would  furnish  you  with  little  amusement.  What  can  I  do  then? 
nothing,  but  ask  you  the  news  in  your  world.  How  have  you 
done  since  I  saw  you?  How  did  Nancy  look  at  you  when  you 
danced  with  her  at  SouthalPs?  Have  you  any  glimmering  of 
hope?  How  does  R.  B.  do?  Had  I  better  stay  here  and  do  no- 
thing, or  go  down  and  do  less?  or,  in  other  words,  had  I  better 
stay  here  while  I  am  here,  or  go  down  that  I  may  have  the 
pleasure  of  sailing  up  the  river  again  in  a  full  rigged  flat?  In- 
clination tells  me  to  go,  receive  my  sentence,  and  be  no  longer 

VOL.  I.— 5 


34  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

in  suspense:  but  reason  says,  if  you  go,  and  your  attempt  proves 
unsuccessful,  you  will  be  ten  times  more  wretched  than  ever. 
In  rny  last  to  you,  dated  Fairfield,  Dec.  25,  I  wrote  to  you  of 
the  losses  I  had  sustained;  in  the  present  I  may  mention  one  more, 
which  is  the  loss  of  the  whites  of  my  eyes,  in  the  room  of  which 
I  have  got  reds,  which  gives  me  such  exquisite  pain  that  I  have 
not  attempted  to  read  any  thing  since  a  few  days  after  Jack 
Walker  went  down,  and  God  knows  when  I  shall  be  able  to  do 
it.  I  have  some  thoughts  of  going  to  Petersburg,  if  the  actors 
go  there  in  May.  If  I  do,  I  do  not  know  but  I  may  keep  on  to 
Williamsburg,  as  the  birth  night  will  be  near.  I  hear  that  Ben 
Harrison  has  been  to  Wilton:  let  me  know  his  success.  Have 
you  an  inclination  to  travel,  Page?  because  if  you  have,  I  shall 
be  glad  of  your  company.  For  you  must  know  that  as  soon  as 
the  Rebecca  (the  name  I  intend  to  give  the  vessel  above  men- 
tioned) is  completely  finished,  I  intend  to  hoist  sail  and  away. 
I  shall  visit  particularly  England,  Holland,  France,  Spain,  Italy, 
(where  I  would  buy  me  a  good  fiddle)  and  Egypt,  and  return 
through  the  British  provinces  to  the  Northward,  home.  This  to 
be  sure,  would  take  us  two  or  three  years,  and  if  we  should  not 
both  be  cured  of  love  in  that  time,  I  think  the  devil  would  be 
in  it.  After  desiring  you  to  remember  me  to  acquaintances 
below,  male  and  female,  I  subscribe  myself, 

Dear  Page,  your  friend  and  servant, 

T.  JEFFERSON. 

Shadwell,  My  15th,  1763. 
Dear  Page, 

Yours  of  May  30th  came  safe  to  hand.  The  rival  you  men- 
tioned I  know  not  whether  to  think  formidable  or  not,  as  there 
has  been  so  great  an  opening  for  him  during  my  absence.  I  say 
has  been,  because  I  expect  there  is  one  no  longer.  Since  you 
have  undertaken  to  act  as  my  attorney,  you  advise  me  to  go 
immediately  and  lay  siege  inform.  You  certainly  did  not  think, 
at  the  time  you  wrote  this,  of  that  paragraph  in  my  letter 
wherein  I  mentioned  to  you  my  resolution  of  going  to  Britain. 
And  to  begin  an  affair  of  that  kind  now,  and  carry  it  on  so  long 


THE   LIFE   OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSO5C.  35 

a  time  in  form,  is  by  no  means  a  proper  plan.  No,  no,  Page; 
whatever  assurances  I  may  give  her  in  private  of  my  esteem 
for  her,  or  whatever  assurances  I  may  ask  in  return  from  her, 
depend  on  it — they  must  be  kept  in  private.  Necessity  will 
oblige  me  to  proceed  in  a  method  which  is  not  generally  thought 
fair;  that  of  treating  with  a  ward  before  obtaining  the  approba- 
tion of  her  guardian.  I  say  necessity  will  oblige  me  to  it,  be- 
cause I  never  can  bear  to  remain  in  suspense  so  long  a  time.  If 
I  am  to  succeed,  the  sooner  I  know  it,  the  less  uneasiness  I  shall 
have  to  go  through.  If  I  arn  to  meet  with  a  disappointment,  the 
sooner  I  know  it,  the  more  of  life  I  shall  have  to  wear  it  off:  and 
if  I  do  meet  with  one,  I  hope  in  God,  and  verily  believe,  it  will 
be  the  last.  I  assure  you,  that  I  almost  envy  you  your  present 
freedom;  and  if  Belinda  will  not  accept  of  my  service,  it  shall 
never  be  offered  to  another.  That  she  may,  I  pray  most  sincerely; 
but  that  she  will,  she  never  gave  me  reason  to  hope.  With 
regard  to  my  not  proceeding  in  form,  I  do  not  know  how  she 
may  like  it.  I  am  afraid  not  much.  That  her  guardians  would 
not,  if  they  should  know  of  it,  is  very  certain.  But  I  should  think 
that  if  they  were  consulted  after  I  return,  it  would  be  suffi- 
cient. The  greatest  inconvenience  would  be  my  not  having  the 
liberty  of  visiting  so  freely.  This  is  a  subject  worth  your  talking 
over  with  her;  and  I  wish  you  would,  and  would  transmit  to  me 
your  whole  confab  at  length.  I  should  be  scared  to  death  at 
making  her  so  unreasonable  a  proposal  as  that  of  waiting  until 
I  return  from  Britain,  unless  she  could  first  be  prepared  for  it. 
I  am  afraid  it  will  make  my  chance  of  succeeding  considerably 
worse.  But  the  event  at  last  must  be  this,  that  if  she  consents, 
I  shall  be  happy;  if  she  does  not,  I  must  endeavour  to  be  as  much 
so  as  possible.  I  have  thought  a  good  deal  on  your  case,  and 
as  mine  may  perhaps  be  similar,  I  must  endeavour  to  look  on 
it  in  the  same  light  in  which  I  have  often  advised  you  to  look 
on  yours.  Perfect  happiness,  I  believe,  was  never  intended  by 
the  Deity  to  be,  the  lot  of  one  of  his  creatures  in  this  world;  but 
that  he  has  very  much  put  in  our  power  the  nearness  of  our 
approaches  to  it,  is  what  I  have  steadfastly  believed. 

The  most  fortunate  of  us,  in  our  journey  through  life,  fre- 


36  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

quently  meet  with  calamities  and  misfortunes  which  may  greatly 
afflict  us;  and,  to  fortify  our  minds  against  the  attacks  of  these 
calamities  and  misfortunes,  should  be  one  of  the  principal  studies 
and  endeavours  of  our  lives.  The  only  method  of  doing  this  is 
to  assume  a  perfect  resignation  to  the  Divine  will,  to  consider 
that  whatever  does  happen,  must  happen;  and  that  by  our  un- 
easiness,, we  cannot  prevent  the  blow  before  it  does  fall,  but  we 
may  add  to  its  force  after  it  has  fallen.  These  considerations, 
and  others  such  as  these,  may  enable  us  in  some  measure  to 
surmount  the  difficulties  thrown  in  our  way;  to  bear  up  with  a 
tolerable  degree,  of  patience  under  this  burthen  of  life;  and  to 
proceed  with  a  pious  and  unshaken  resignation,  till  we  arrive  at 
our  journey's  end,  when  we  may  deliver  up  our  trust  into  the 
hands  of  him  who  gave  it,  and  receive  such  reward  as  to  him 
shall  seem  proportioned  to  our  merit.  Such,  dear  Page,  will  be 
the  language  of  the  man  who  considers  his  situation  in  this  life, 
and  such  should  be  the  language  of  every  man  who  would  wish 
to  render  that  situation  as  easy  as  the  nature  of  it  will  admit. 
Few  things  will  disturb  him  at  all:  nothing  will  disturb  him 
much. 

If  this  letter  was  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  some  of  our  gay 
acquaintance,  your  correspondent  and  his  solemn  notions  would 
probably  be  the  subjects  of  a  great  deal  of  mirth  and  raillery, 
but  to  you,  I  think,  I  can  venture  to  send  it.  It  is  in  effect  a 
continuation  of  the  many  conversations  we  have  had  on  subjects 
of  this  kind;  and  I  heartily  wish,  we  could  now  continue  these 
conversations  face  to  face.  The  time  will  not  be  very  long 
now  before  we  may  do  it,  as  I  expect  to  be  in  Williamsburg 
by  the  first  of  October,  if  not  sooner.  I  do  not  know  that  I  shall 
have  occasion  to  return,  if  I  can  rent  rooms  in  town  to  lodge  in; 
and  to  prevent  the  inconvenience  of  moving  my  lodgings  for  the 
future,  I  think  to  build:  no  castle  though,  I  assure  you;  only  a 
small  house,  which  shall  contain  a  room  for  myself  and  another 
for  you,  and  no  more,  unless  Belinda  should  think  proper  to  fa- 
vour us  with  her  company,  in  which  case,  I  will  enlarge  the 
plan  as  much  as  she  pleases.  Make  my  compliments  to  her  par- 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  37 

ticularly,  as  also  to  Sukey  Potter,  Judy  Burwell.  and  such  others 
of  my  acquaintance  as  enquire  after  me.     I  am, 
Dear  Page,  your  sincere  friend, 

T.  JEFFERSOX. 

Williamsburg,  October  7,  1763. 
Dear  Page, 

In  the  most  melancholy  fit  that  ever  any  poor  soul  was,  T  sit 
down  to  write  to  you.  Last  night,  as  merry  as  agreeable  com- 
pany and  dancing  with  Belinda  in  the  Apollo  could  make  me,  I 
never  could  have  thought  the  succeeding  sun  would  have  seen 
me  so  wretched  as  I  now  am!  1  was  prepared  to  say  a  great 
deal:  I  had  dressed  up  in  my  own  mind,  such  thoughts  as  oc- 
curred to  me,  in  as  moving  language  as  I  knew  how,  and  ex- 
pected to  have  performed  in  a  tolerably  creditable  manner. 
But,  good  God!  When  I  had  an  opportunity  of  venting  them,  a 
few  broken  sentences,  uttered  in  great  disorder,  and  interrupted 
with  pauses  of  uncommon  length,  were  the  too  visible  marks 
of  my  strange  confusion!  The  whole  confab  I  will  tell  you,  word 
for  word,  if  I  can,  when  I  see  you,  which  God  send  may  be  soon. 
Affairs  at  W.  and  M.  are  in  the  greatest  confusion.  Walker, 
M'Clurg  and  Wat  Jones  are  expelled  pro  tempore,  or,  as  Horrox 
softens  it,  rusticated  for  a  month.  Lewis  Burwell,  Warner 
Lewis,  and  one  Thompson  have  fled  to  escape  flagellation.  I 
should  have  excepted  Warner  Lewis,  who  came  off  of  his  own 
accord.  Jack  Walker  leaves  town  on  Monday.  The  court 
is  now  at  hand,  which  I  must  attend  constantly,  so  that  unless 
you  come  to  town,  there  is  little  probability  of  my  meeting  with 
you  any  where  else.  For  God  sake  come. 
I  am,  dear  Page, 

Your  sincere  friend, 

T.  JEFFERSON. 

Devilsburg*  January  23d,  1764. 
Dear  Page, 

I  received  your  letter  of  Wednesday  the  18th  instant;  in  that, 

*  From  this  designation  of  the  ancient  metropolis,  it  would  seem  even 
then  to  have  been  no  favourite  with  him. 


38  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

of  this  day,  you  mention  one  which  you  wrote  last  Friday,  and 
sent  by  the  Secretary's  boy;  but  I  have  neither  seen  nor  heard 
of  such  a  one.  God  send,  mine  of  Jan.  19  to  you  may  not  have 
shared  the  same  fate;  for,  by  your  letter,  1  am  uncertain  whe- 
ther you  have  received  it  or  not;  you  therein  say,  'you  hope  to 
have  received  an  answer  from  me  by  this  time,'  by  which  I 
judge  it  has  miscarried;  but  you  mention  mine  of  Dec.  25, 
which  puts  me  in  spirits  again,  as  I  do  not  know  how  you  should 
have  got  intelligence  that  I  had  wrote  such  a  one,  unless  you 
had  seen  my  letter  of  Jan.  19,  in  which  it  was  mentioned — 
yes,  there  is  one  other  way  by  which  you  might  have  received 
such  intelligence.  My  letter  of  Jan.  19,  may  have  been  opened, 
and  the  person  who  did  it  may  have  been  further  incited  by 
curiosity,  to  ask  you  if  you  had  received  such  a  letter  as  they 
saw  mentioned  therein;  but  God  send,  and  I  hope  this  is  not  the 
case.  Sukey  Potter,  to  whom  I  sent  it,  told  me  yesterday  she 
delivered  it  to  Mr.  T.  Nelson,  the  younger,  who  had  delivered  it 
to  you — I  hope  with  his  own  hand.  I  wish  I  had  followed  your 
example,  and  wrote  it  in  Latin,  and  that  I  had  called  my  dear 
campana  in  die,*  instead  of  <*JV/\«£ 

We  must  fall  on  some  scheme  of  communicating  our  thoughts 
to  each  other,  which  shall  be  totally  unintelligible  to  every  one 
but  to  ourselves.  I  will  send  you  some  of  these  days  Shelton's 
Tachygraphical  Alphabet,  and  directions.  Jack  Walker  is  en- 
gaged to  Betsy  Moore,  and  desired  all  his  brethren  might  be 
made  acquainted  with  his  happiness.  But  I  hear  he  will  not 
be  married  this  year  or  two.  Put  campana  in  die  in  mind  of  me; 
tell  him  I  think  as  I  always  did.  I  have  sent  my  horses  up  the 
country,  so  that  it  is  out  of  my  power  to  take  even  an  airing  on 
horseback  at  any  time.  My  paper  holds  out  no  longer,  so 
Must  bid  you  adieu. 

*  The  lady  here  alluded  to  is  manifestly  the  Miss  Rebecca  Burwell 
mentioned  in  his  first  letter;  but  what,  suggested  the  quaint  designations 
of  her  is  not  so  obvious.  In  the  first  of  them,  Belinda,  translated  into 
dog  Latin,  which  was  there,  as  elsewhere,  among  ih&facelice  of  young 
collegians,  became  campana  in  die,  that  is  bell  in  day.  In  the  second, 
the  name  is  reversed,  and  becomes  adnileb.  which,  for  further  security, 
is  written  in  Greek  characters,  and  the  lady  spoken  of  in  the  masculine 
gender. 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  39 

Demlsburg,  Jan.  19,  1764. 

The  contents  of  your  letter  have  not  a  little  alarmed  me; 
and  really,  upon  seriously  weighing  them  with  what  has  formerly 
passed  between  and  myself,  I  am  somewhat  at  a  loss 

what  to  conclude,  vour  "semper  saltat,  semper  ridet,  semper  loqui- 
tur, semper  solicited,  &c.,  appear  a  little  suspicious;  but  good  God! 
it  is  impossible!  I  told  you  our  confab  in  the  Apollo;  but  I  be- 
lieve I  never  told  you  that  we  had  on  another  occasion.  I  then 
opened  my  mind  more  freely,  and  more  fully.  I  mentioned  the 
necessity  of  my  going  to  England,  and  the  delays  which  would 
consequently  be  occasioned  by  that.  I  said  in  what  manner  I 
should  conduct  myself  till  then,  and  explained  my  reasons,  which 
appears  to  give  that  satisfaction  I  could  have  wished;  in  short, 
I  managed  in  such  a  manner  that  I  was  tolerable  easy  myself, 
without  doing  any  thing  which  could  give  OAHM&S  friends  the 
least  umbrage,  were  the  whole  that  passed  to  be  related  to 
them.  I  asked  no  question  which  would  admit  of  a  categorical 
answer;  but  I  assured  *rwx«f  that  such  questions  would  one  day 
be  asked — in  short,  were  I  to  have  another  interview  with  him, 
I  could  say  nothing  now  which  I  did  not  say  then;  and  were  I, 
with  a  view  of  obtaining  one,  licentiam  solicitandi  aliis,  quibus 
degit  postulare,  it  would  be  previously  necessary  to  go  the  rounds 
cum  custodibiis;  and  after  all  this,  he  could  be  in  no  other  situa- 
tion than  he  is  at  present.  After  the  proofs  I  have  given  of 
my  sincerity,  he  can  be  under  no  apprehensions  of  a  change 
in  my  sentiments:  and  were  I  to  do  as  my  friends  advise  me, 
I  would  give  no  better  security  than  he  has  at  present.  He  is 
satisfied  that  I  shall  make  him  an  offer,  and  if  he  intends  to  ac- 
cept of  it,  he  will  disregard  those  made  by  others;  my  fate  de- 
pends on  *hix£'s  present  resolutions,  by  them  T  must  stand  or 
fall — if  they  are  not  favourable  to  me,  it  is  out  of  my  power  to 
say  any  thing  to  make  them  so  which  I  have  not  said  already; 
so  that  a  visit  could  not  possibly  be  of  the  least  weight,  and  it 
is,  I  am  sure,  what  he  does  not  in  the  least  expect.  I  hear  you 

are  courting  F y  B 1,  but  shall  not  listen  to  it  till  I 

hear  it  from  you.  When  I  was  up  the  country,  I  wrote  a  let- 
ter to  you,  dated  Fairfield,  Dec".  25,  1763;  let  me  know  if  you 


40  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

have  received  such  a  one.    As  I  suppose  you  do  not  use  your 
Statutes  of  Britain,  if  you  can  lend  them  to  me,  till  I  can  provide 
myself  with  a  copy,  it  will  infinitely  oblige  me. 
Adieu,  dear  Page. 

Devilsburg,  April  9th,  1764. 
Dear  Page, 

This  letter  will  be  conveyed  to  you  by  the  assistance  of  our 
friend  Warner  Lewis.  Poor  fellow!  never  did  I  see  one  more 
sincerely  captivated  in  my  life.  He  walked  to  the  Indian  camp 
with  her  yesterday,  by  which  means  he  had  an  opportunity  of 
giving  her  two  or  three  love  squeezes  by  the  hand;  and,  like  a 
true  arcadian  swain,  has  been  so  enraptured  ever  since,  that 

he  is  company  for  no  one.     B y  has  at  last  bestowed  her 

hand  on  B d;  and  whether  it  was  for  money,  beauty,  or 

principle,  will  be  so  nice  a  dispute,  that  no  one  will  venture  to 
pronounce.  Two  days  before  the  wedding,  I  was  not  a  little 
surprised,  on  going  to  the  door  at  my  house,  to  see  him  alight 
from  his  horse.  He  stepped  up  to  me,  and  desired  the  favour 
of  me  to  come  to  Mr.  Yates'  at  such  a  time.  It  was  so  unex- 
pected, that  for  some  time  I  could  make  no  reply;  at  last,  I  said, 
"yes,"  and  turned  about  and  walked  back  into  my  room.  I  ac- 
cordingly attended,  and  to  crown  the  joke,  when  I  got  there,  was 
dubbed  a  bridesman.  There  were  many  other  curious  circum- 
stances too  tedious  to  mention  here.  Jack  Walker  is  expected 
in  town  to-morrow.  How  does  your  pulse  beat  after  your  trip 
to  the  Isle  of  Wight?  What  a  high  figure  I  should  have  cut,  had 
I  gone!  When  I  heard  who  visited  you  there,  I  thought  I  had 
met  with  the  narrowest  escape  in  the  world.  I  wonder  how  I 
should  have  behaved — I  am  sure  I  should  have  been  at  a  great 
loss.  If  your  mistress  can  spare  you  a  little  time,  your  friends 
here  would  be  very  glad  to  see  you,  particularly  Small  and 
myself,  as  every  thing  is  now  ready  for  taking  the  height  of  this 
place  above  the  water  of  the  creeks.  Fleming's  relapse  will 
justly  afford  you  great  matter  of  triumph,  after  rallying  you  so 
much  on  being  in  love. 

Adieu,  dear  Page. 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  41 

P.  S.  Walker  is  just  arrived — he  goes  out  of  town  on  Wednes- 
day, and  will  return  again  in  about  three  weeks. 

To  the  friendship  of  Dr.  Small,  Mr.  Jefferson  also  owed  an 
acquaintance  with  two  other  individuals,  who,  probably,  in  many 
ways  excited  an  influence  on  his  future  character.  The  first 
of  these  was  Governor  Fauquier,  whose  talents,  highly  improved 
by  cultivation,  were  recommended  by  the  most  engaging  exte- 
rior and  manners.  It  must  be  remembered,  too,  that  the  gover- 
nors of  the  English  colonies,  being  regarded  as  the  representa- 
tives of  royalty,  affected  a  good  deal  of  state,  and  none  more 
than  those  of  Virginia,  where,  in  keeping  with  these  pretensions, 
their  mansion  at  the  seat  of  government  was  called  "the  pa- 
lace." At  the  table  of  this  gentleman,  to  which  Mr.  Jefferson, 
during  his  residence  in  Williamsburg,  had  familiar  access, he  may 
be  supposed  to  have  acquired  both  his  admirable  manners,  which 
reached  the  utmost  extreme  of  ease  that  is  consistent  with 
dignity  or  refinement,  and  that  taste  for  the  elegancies  of  life 
with  which  he  always  embellished  the  plainness  of  the  repub- 
lican and  the  simplicity  of  the  philosopher.  The  Governor  was 
said  to  have  been  a  follower  of  Shaftesbury  and  Bolingbroke, 
in  morals  and  religion,  and,  by  the  influence  of  his  station  and 
accomplishments,  to  have  rendered  their  tenets  fashionable  in 
Virginia,  as  well  as  increased  the  taste  for  gaming,  to  which  he 
was  passionately  devoted.  Mr.  Jefferson  happily  escaped  the 
contagion  of  this  vice;  but  it  has  been  thought  that  opinions  re- 
commended by  genius  and  taste,  as  well  as  rank,  were  not  with- 
out their  effect  on  a  youthful  mind,  at  once  ductile  and  bold.* 
Yet  the  friend  who  knew  him  bestf  gives  no  credit  to  this  sup- 
posed influence;  but  justly  remarking,  that  the  same  fearless 
and  independent  spirit,  impatient  of  dictation  and  contemning 
authority,  is  to  be  seen  in  all  Mr.  Jefferson's  speculations.  He 
thinks,  that  so  far  as  the  character  of  his  religious  and  moral 

*  This  explanation  of  some  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  opinions  I  received  from 
the  late  Mr.  John  Randolph. 
'  f  Mr.  Madison. 
VOL.  L— 6 


42  THE  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

opinions  are  not  attributable  to  the  native  character  of  his  mind, 
they  are  to  be  ascribed  to  the  time  and  the  country  in  which 
he  lived. 

The  other,  and  far  more  valuable  acquaintance  which  he 
owed  to  Dr.  Small,  was  Mr.  Wythe,  at  that  time  a  lawyer  of 
eminence,  and  afterwards,  in  succession,  a  member  of  the  first 
Congress,  a  professor  in  William  and  Mary  College,  and  the 
Chancellor  of  Virginia.  With'this  gentleman,  who  had  a  vigorous, 
but  somewhat  eccentric  mind,  and  who  united  a  calonian  se- 
verity of  morals,  with  unusual  blandness  of  manners  and  dispo- 
sition, Mr.  Jefferson  studied  law,  and  under  his  auspices,  made 
his  first  appearance  at  the  bar  of  the  General  Court  in  1767, 
at  the  age  of  twenty-four. 

In  a  sketch  of  the  character  of  his  ancient  preceptor,  drawn 
by  Jefferson  for  "Sanderson's  Biographies,"  he  has  correctly 
delineated  its  principal  features,  except  that  he  has  passed 
over  its  eccentricities,  most  of  which  indeed  may  have  grown 
up  in  the  life  of  study  and  seclusion,  which  Mr.  Wythe  led  after 
he  became  Chancellor.  Some  of  his  singularities  would  appear 
ludicrously  extravagant  in  the  recital;  but  they  were  practised 
so  unobtrusively,  and  were  accompanied  with  such  genuine 
suavity  of  manners  and  carriage,  that  they  never  conveyed  the 
idea  of  affectation;  and  what  would  have  been  regarded  as 
improprieties  of  dress  or  manners  in  others,  was  forgiven  in  him 
as  a  sort  of  idiosyncrasy,  which  he  could  not  help,  and  of  which 
he  was  not  even  conscious. 

So  young  a  man  as  Mr.  Jefferson  could  not  but  be  greatly 
flattered  at  being  received  into  the  intimate  society  of  three  such 
men  as  have  been  mentioned,  since  he  must  have  known  that 
it  could  have  proceeded  only  from  a  high  sense  of  his  merit; 
and  he  himself  bears  testimony  to  the  instruction  he  derived 
from  their  conversation. 

Two  years  before  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  while  he 
was  yet  a  student  in  Williamsburg,  the  misunderstanding  be- 
tween Great  Britain  and  colonies  had  commenced,  and  the  sub- 
ject of  their  respective  rights  had  become  a  theme  of  universal 


THE   LIFE   OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  43 

interest  and  discussion  in  America.  He  would  naturally  have 
sided  with  the  great  mass  of  his  countrymen  in  this  controversy; 
but  the  ardour  with  which  he  espoused  their  cause,  was  aug- 
mented by  the  circumstances  in  which  he  was  placed.  He 
had  frequent  opportunities  of  listening  both  to  the  open  debates, 
and  the  private  conversations  of  the  members  of  the  Legisla- 
ture, consisting  at  that  time  of  many  men  of  intelligent,  and 
highly  cultivated  minds:  the  able  lawyer  with  whom  he  studied 
was  among  the  foremost  in  resisting  the  pretensions  of  Great 
Britain:  and  above  all,  eloquence,  whose  power  is  never  so  great 
as  when  it  is  exerted  in  the  cause  of  patriotism,  lent  its  magical 
influence,  to  add  the  fervours  of  passion  to  the  convictions  of 
the  understanding. 

It  was  during  the  session  of  the  Assembly  in  May,  1765,  that 
he  first  had  an  opportunity  of  hearing  that  extraordinary  self 
educated  orator,  Patrick  Henry.  The  occasion  on  which  he 
most  distinguished  himself,  was  on  the  resolutions  prepared  by 
himself  on  the  stamp  act,  which  had  passed  in  the  preceding 
January,  and  had  reached  Virginia  during  the  session  of  the 
Legislature.  After  the  lapse  of  half  a  century,  Mr.  Jefferson 
declares,  that  he  never  heard  such  strains  of  eloquence  from 
any  other  man,  and  that  "Mr.  Henry  appeared  to  speak  as  Ho- 
mer wrote."  Somewhat  must  be  deducted  from  this  high  wrought 
panegyric,  both  for  the  inexperience  of  the  hearer,  and  his 
warm  enthusiasm  in  the  cause  of  the  orator;  but  we  cannot  make 
a  large  allowance  for  these  biases,  without  impugning  the  ac- 
counts that  are  given  of  Mr.  Henry's  rare  powers  of  elocution 
by  all  who  ever  heard  him  speak. 

The  repeal  of  the  stamp  act  the  year  after  it  was  passed, 
produced  a  short-lived  suspension  of  the  ill  feeling  between 
Great  Britain  and  her  colonies;  but  the  attempt  made  by  her 
in  the  following  year,  1767,  to  draw  a  revenue  from  them,  in  the 
less  obvious  form  of  an  impost,  small  as  that  impost  was,  renewed 
the  dispute,  which,  in  eight  years  of  irritation,  was  aggravated 
into  open  war;  and,  in  eight  years  more,  terminated  in  the  com- 
plete overthrow  of  British  authority. 


44  THE  LIFK  OK  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

In  the  spring  of  1766  he  went  to  Philadelphia,  for  the  osten- 
sible purpose  of  being  there  inoculated,  but,  no  doubt,  also  for  the 
gratification  of  a  liberal  curiosity.  He  made  this  journey  of  three 
hundred  miles  in  a  one  horse  chair,  and  experienced  a  full  share 
of  the  inconveniences  incident  to  travelling  in  that  mode,  and 
at  that  period.  The  first  day  his  pampered  steed  ran  off  with 
him  twice.  He  rode  through  the  whole  of  the  next  in  a  drench- 
ing rain,  "without  meeting  with  a  single  house  to  which  he  could 
repair  for  shelter;"  and,  on  the  third,  he  was  near  being  drowned 
in  fording  the  Pamunkey.  He,  however,  called  at  the  country 
seats  of  two  or  three  gentlemen  of  his  acquaintance,  where  he 
met  with  some  of  his  old  college  associates,  and  in  these  re- 
unions, forgot  the  disasters  of  flood  and  field. 

He  also  took  Annapolis  in  his  way,  and  found  the  General 
Assembly  of  Maryland  then  in  session.  In  a  letter  to  his  friend 
Page,  from  which  the  preceding  particulars  were  gleaned,  he 
gives  an  amusing  description  of  the  loose  and  irregular  course 
of  proceeding  in  the  Maryland  Legislature,  so  strongly  con- 
trasted with  the  order  and  dignity  which  had  long  character- 
ized the  House  of  Burgesses  in  Virginia.  He  then  adds:  "The 
situation  of  this  place  is  extremely  beautiful,  and  very  commo- 
dious for  trade,  having  a  most  secure  port,  capable  of  receiving 
the  largest  vessels— those  of  400  hhds.  being  able  to  brush 
against  the  sides  of  the  dock.  The  houses  are  in  general  better 
than  those  in  Williamsburg;  but  the  gardens  more  indifferent. 
The  two  towns  seem  much  of  a  size.  They  have  no  public  build- 
ings worth  mentioning,  except  a  Governor's  House,  the  hall  of 
which,  after  being  nearly  finished,  they  have  suffered  to  go  to 
ruin.  I  would  give  you  an  account  of  the  rejoicings  here  on 
the  repeal  of  the  stamp  act,*  but  this  you  will  probably  see  in 

*At  this  time,  he  little  dreamt  that  in  the  very  spot  where  he  saw  the 
people  rejoicing,  that  Great  Britain  consented  to  relinquish  a  paltry  tax, 
while  she  asserted  unlimited  powers  of  legislation,  he  should  witness  the 
ratification  of  a  treaty  by  which  she  acknowledged  her  late  suppliant  co- 
lonies to  be  sovereign  states;  that  here  too,  he  was  to  behold  the  mo-e 
imposing  spectacle  of  the  victorious  commander  of  their  armies  volun- 
tarily resigning  his  authority  to  those  from  whom  he  had  received  it- 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  .45 

print  before  my  letter  can  reach  you.  I  shall  proceed  to-morrow 
to  Philadelphia,  where  I  shall  make  the  stay  necessary  for  inocu- 
lation; thence  going  on  to  New  York,  I  shall  return  by  water 
to  Williamsburgh,  about  the  middle  of  July,  till  which  time  you 
have  the  prayers  of,  dear  Page, 

"Your  affectionate  friend, 

"T.  JEFFERSON." 

Of  his  success  as  a  practitioner  of  law  he  has  left  no  account, 
and  the  defect  can  be  but  imperfectly  supplied  from  his  contem- 
poraries, of  whom  the  few  that  survive  have  no  precise  infor- 
mation on  the  subject.  They  state,  however,  that  as  a  speaker, 
his  diction  was  both  fluent  and  perspicuous;  but  that  his  voice 
was  neither  strong  nor  clear;  and  that  during  the  seven  or  eight 
years  that  he  practised  in  the  General  Court,  he  was  gradually 
rising  to  the  foremost  rank  as  an  accurate,  learned,  and  able 
lawyer.  This  is  no  moderate  praise,  when  it  is  recollected  that 
the  court  in  which  he  practised  was  the  highest  judicial  tribunal 
in  Virginia;  that  here  all  causes  of  importance,  civil  and  crimi- 
nal, were  decided;  and  here,  of  course,  he  encountered  the  highest 
forensic  talents  of  the  colony,  which,  always  in  a  state  of  prepa- 
ration, were  stimulated  to  their  highest  efforts  by  collision  and 
emulation.  Mr.  Jefferson's  manuscripts  attest  the  labour  of  his 
legal  researches,  as  well  as  his  fertility  of  argument  and  nicety  of 
discrimination;  and  leave  no  doubt  that  he  would  have  attained 
the  first  place  in  this  road  to  distinction,  if  the  political  struggle 
of  his  country  had  not  diverted  him  to  another  and  a  higher  des- 
tiny. 

But  the  time  had  now  come  when  Mr.  Jefferson  was  himself 
to  be  an  actor  in  that  great  civil  contest,  of  which  he  had  been 
for  some  years  an  anxious  spectator.  In  1769,  being  then 
twenty-six  years  of  age,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  House 
of  Burgesses,  from  the  county  of  Albemarle.  Lord  Botetourt, 

and  that  he  himself,  then  a  stranger  and  unknown,  was  to  bear  a  con- 
spicuous part  in  these  memorable  xscenes.  But  contests  of  this  character, 
though  not  often  so  striking  as  these,  have  become  so  familiar  in  the 
United  States,  where  every  thing  is  in  a  state  of  rapid  progression,  as 
no  longer  to  excite  wonder. 


46  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

the  Governor,  having  convened  the  Legislature  in  May,  reso- 
lutions in  opposition  to  those  which  had  been  recently  passed 
by  both  houses  of  Parliament  on  the  proceedings  of  Massachu- 
setts, were  unanimously  adopted  by  the  Burgesses,  who  also 
voted  an  address  to  the  King.  In  these  papers,  they  re-asserted 
the  right  of  laying  taxes  in  Virginia  to  be  exclusively  vested  in 
its  own  Legislature;  insisted  on  their  privilege  of  petitioning  for 
a  redress  of  grievances,  as  well  as  of  procuring  the  concurrence 
of  the  other  colonies;  and  pronounced  the  mode  of  trial  of  per- 
sons, charged  with  treason  in  the  colonies,  which  had  been  lately 
recommended  in  Parliament,  to  be  illegal  and  unconstitutional. 
The  last  resolution  referred  to  a  joint  address  of  the  two  houses 
to  the  King,  in  which  it  was  proposed  that  the  treasonable  prac- 
tices in  the  colonies  should  be  prosecuted  under  a  statute  of 
Henry  the  Eighth,  according  to  which,  the  accused  might  be 
transported  for  trial  to  England. 

The  Governor,  having  heard  of  these  proceedings,  without 
waiting  for  the  official  communication  of  them,  abruptly  dis- 
solved the  Assembly.*  But  on  the  following  day,  the  members 
assembled  at  the  Raleigh  tavern,  and  in  a  room  which  then 
bore  the  classic  name  of  the  Apollo,  and  which  it  still  retains, 
they  entered  into  articles  of  agreement,  or,  as  it  was  then  term- 
ed, "Association,"  by  which  they  pledged  their  honour  not  to 
import,  nor,  after  the  first  of  September  ensuing,  purchase  cer- 
tain specified  kinds  of  British  merchandise,  so  long  as  the  act  of 
Parliament  for  raising  a  revenue  in  America  was  unrepealed; 
and  this  agreement  they  recommended  to  the  general  adoption 
of  their  constituents.  Among  the  eighty-eight  signatures  to  this 
"Association,"  are  to  be  seen  the  names  of  George  Washington, 
Peyton  Randolph,  Patrick  Henry,  Richard  Henry  Lee,  Thomas 
Jefferson,  and  more  than  half  the  remainder  afterwards  held 

*  Mr.  Jefferson,  at  this  his  first  session,  manifested  that  interest  in  the 
subject  of  slavery  which  he  so  often  afterwards  exhibited.  His  proposition 
then,  however,  was  not  for  a  general  emancipation,  as  it  has  been  some- 
times stated  by  his  undiscriminating  admirers;  but  merely  to  remove  the 
restrictions  which  the  laws  had  previously  imposed  on  voluntary  manu- 
mission, and  even  this  was  rejected.  Thegeneral  right  to  manumit  was 
not  given  in  Virginia  until  the  year  1782. 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  47 

conspicuous  stations  either  in  the  civil  or  military  service  of 
their  country.  Similar  Associations  had  been  entered  into  the 
year  before  in  Massachusetts,  and  this  mode  of  appealing  to 
the  interests  of  Great  Britain  gradually  extended  throughout 
most  of  the  other  provinces. 

Early  in  the  following  year,  the  house  at  Shadwell,  in  which 
he  lived  with  his  mother,  caught  fire,  while  they  were  on  a  visit 
to  a  neighbour,  and  in  the  alarm  and  confusion  of  the  slaves, 
almost  every  thing  in  it  was  consumed.  The  one  who  brought 
him  the  first  tidings  of  his  misfortune,  knowing  his  master's  pas- 
sion for  music,  in  which  he  probably  participated,  thus  uncon- 
sciously parodied  Francis  the  First's  consolation  to  his  mother 
after  the  battle  of  Pavia.  "But  master,  we  have  saved  the 
fiddle."  The  extent  of  his  loss,  as  well  as  the  temper  with 
which  he  bore  it,  may  be  inferred  from  the  following  letter,  writ- 
ten soon  afterwards. 

Charlottesville,  Feb.  21,  1770. 
Dear  Page, 

I  am  to, acquaint  Mrs.  Page  of  the  loss  of  my  favourite  pul- 
let; the  consequence  of  which  will  readily  occur  to  her.  I 
promised  also  to  give  her  some  Virginia  silk  which  I  had  ex- 
pected, and  I  begin  to  wish  my  expectation  may  not  prove 
vain.  I  fear  she  will  think  me  but  an  ungainly  acquaintance. 
My  late  loss  may  perhaps  have  reached  you  by  this  time;  I 
mean  the  loss  of  my  mother's  house  by  fire,  and  in  it  of.  every 
paper  I  had  in  the  world,  and  almost  every  book.  On  a  reason- 
able estimate  I  calculate  the  cost  of  the  books  burned  to  have 
been  200/.  sterling.  Would  to  God  it  had  been  the  money,  then 
had  it  never  cost  me  a  sigh!  To  make  the  loss  more  sensible,  it 
fell  principally  on  my  books  of  Common  Law,  of  which  I  have 
but  one  left,  at  that  time  lent  out.  Of  papers  too  of  every  kind 
I  am  utterly  destitute.  All  of  these,  whether  public  or  private, 
of  business  or  of  amusement,  have  perished  in  the  flames.  I  had 
made  some  progress  in  preparing  for  the  succeeding  General 
Court;  and  having,  as  was  my  custom,  thrown  my  thoughts  into 
the  form  of  notes,  I  troubled  my  head  no  more  with  them. 


48  4  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

These  are  gone,  and  like  the  baseless  fabric  of  a  vision,  leave 
not  a  trace  behind.  The  records  also,  and  other  papers  which 
furnished  me  with  states  of  the  several  cases,  having  shared 
the  same  fate,  I  have  no  foundation  whereon  to  set  out  anew. 
I  have  in  vain  attempted  to  recollect  some  of  them;  the  defect 
sometimes  of  one,  sometimes  of  more  circumstances,  rendering 
them  so  imperfect  that  I  can  make  nothing  of  them.  What  am 
I  to  do  then  in  April?  The  resolution  which  the  Court  has 
declared  of  admitting  no  continuances  of  causes  seemed  to  be 
unalterable;  yet  it  might  surely  be  urged,  that  my  case  is  too 
singular  to  admit  of  their  being  often  troubled  with  the  like 
excuse.  Should  it  be  asked,  what  are  the  misfortunes  of  an 
individual  to  a  Court?  The  answer  of  a  Court,  as  well  as  of  an 
individual,  if  left  to  me,  should  be  in  the  words  of  Terence, 
"homo  sum;  humani  nil  a  me  alienum  puto" — but  a  truce  with 
this  disagreeable  subject. 

Am  I  never  more  to  have  a  letter  from  you?  Why  the  devil 
don't  you  write?  But  I  suppose  you  are  always  in  the  moon,  or 
some  of  the  planetary  regions.  I  mean  you  are  there  in  idea; 
and  unless  you  mend,  you  shall  have  my  consent  to  be  there 
de  facto;  at  least,  during  the  vacations  of  the  Court  and  Assem- 
bly. If  your  spirit  is  too  elevated  to  advert  to  sublunary  sub- 
jects, depute  my  friend  Mrs.  Page  to  support  your  correspon- 
dences. Methinks  I  should,  with  wonderful  pleasure,  open  and 
peruse  a  letter  written  by  so  fair,  and  (what  is  better)  so  friendly 
hands.  If  thinking  much  of  you  would  entitle  me  to  the  civility 
of  a  letter,  I  assure  you  I  merit  a  very  long  one.  If  this  con- 
flagration, by  which  I  am  burned  out  of  a  home,  had  come 
before  I  had  advanced  so  far  in  preparing  another,  I  do  not 
know  but  I  might  have  cherished  some  treasonable  thoughts  of 
leaving  these  my  native  hills;  indeed  I  should  be  much  happier 
were  I  nearer  to  Rosewell  and  Severn  hills — however,  the  Gods, 
I  fancy,  were  apprehensive  that  if  we  were  placed  together,  we 
should  pull  down  the  moon,  or  play  some  such  devilish  prank 
with  their  works.  I  reflect  often  with  pleasure  on  the  philo- 
sophical evenings  I  passed  at  Rosewell  in  my  last  visits  there. 
I  was  always  fond  of  philosophy,  even  in  its  drier  forms;  but 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  49 

from  a  ruby  lip,  it  comes  with  charms  irresistible.  Such  a  feast  of 
sentiment  must  exhilarate  and  lengthen  life,  at  least  as  much  as 
the  feast  of  the  sensualist  shortens  it — in  a  word,  I  prize  it  so 
highly,  that,  if  you  will  at  any  time  collect  the  same  Belle  As- 
semblee,  on  giving  me  three  days  previous  notice,  I  shall  cer- 
tainly repair  to  my  place  as  a  member  of  it.  Should  it  not  hap- 
pen before  I  come  down,  I  will  carry  Sally  Nicholas  in  the 
green  chair  to  Newquarter,  where  your  periagua  (how  the 

should  I  spell  that  word?)  will  meet  us,  automaton-like,  of 

its  own  accord.  You  know  I  had  a  wagon  which  moved  itself 
— cannot  we  construct  a  boat  then  which  shall  row  itself?  Ami-* 
cus  noster,  FOJIS,*  quo  modo  agit,  el  quid  agit?  You  may  be  all 
dead  for  any  thing  we  can  tell  here.  I  expect  he  will  follow 
the  good  old  rule  of  driving  one  passion  out  by  letting  another 
in.  Clavum  clavo  pangere  was  your  advice  to  me  on  a  similar 
occasion.  I  hope  you  will  watch  his  immersion  as  narrowly  as 
if  he  were  one  of  Jupiter's  satellites;  and  give  me  immediate 
notice,  that  I  may  prepare  a  dish  of  advice.  I  do  not  mean, 
Madam,  to  advise  him  against  it.  On  the  contrary,  I  am  become 
an  advocate  for  the  passion:  for  I  too  am  ccelo  tactus,  Currus-f 
bene  se  habet.  He  speaks,  thinks,  and  dreams  of  nothing  but  his 
young  son.  This  friend  of  ours,  Page,  in  a  very  small  house, 
with  a  table,  half  a  dozen  chairs,  and  one  or  two  servants,  is 
the  happiest  man  in  the  universe.  Every  incident  in  life  he  so 
takes  as  to  render  it  a  source  of  pleasure.  With  as  much  be- 
nevolence as  the  heart  of  man  will  hold,  but  with  an  utter  neglect 
of  the  costly  apparatus  of  life,  he  exhibits  to  the  world  a  new 
phenomenon  in  philosophy — the  Samian  sage  in  Hie  tub  of  the 
cynic.  Name  me  sometimes  homunculo  tuo,  not  forgetting  lit- 
tle die  mendadum.  I  am  determined  not  to  enter  on  the  next 
page,  lest  I  should  extend  this  nonsense  to  the  bottom  of  that 
also.  A  dieuje  nous  commis,  not  doubting  his  care  of  you  both. 

TH:  JEFFERSON. 


*  Probably  Mr.  William  Fontaine,  of  Hanover  county.     ' 
f  By  this  term,  he  no  doubt  designated  Mr.  Dabney  Carr,  his  brother- 
in-law. 
VOL.  I.— 7 


50  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

He  had,  some  time  before  this  accident,  fortunately  begun  his 
improvements  on  the  summit  of  Monticello,  a  small  mountain 
on  the  Shadwell  tract,  to  which  he  has  since  given  celebrity. 
To  this  place  he  removed,  as  soon  as  he  had  made  one  of  its 
small  pavilions  habitable,  and  it  continued  his  home  for  the  rest 
of  his  life. 

On  returning  to  their  respective  counties,  all  the  members 
were  re-elected,  with  the  exception  of  the  very  few  who  had 
dissented  from  the  majority.  But  when  the  Assembly  was  again 
convened,  all  feelings  of  irritation  were  greatly  soothed  by  Lord 
Botetourt's  assurances  that  the  ministry  had  no  intention  of  pro- 
posing any  further  taxes  on  America,  and  that  they  meant  to 
advise  the  repeal  of  the  duties  upon  glass,  paper  and  colours. 
Although  it  would  seem  to  have  been  a  fair  inference  from  this 
communication,  that  the  duty  on  tea,  of  which  nothing  was  said, 
was  to  be  retained,  yet,  such  conclusion  either  was  not  drawn 
by  the  Assembly,  or  was  disregarded,  as  in  their  answer  to 
the  Governor,  they  express  their  satisfaction  in  emphatic  and 
unqualified  terms.  But  in  the  interval  of  an  adjournment, 
their  minds  seem  to  have  undergone  a  change,  and  when  they 
again  met,  they  expressed  their  dissatisfaction  in  the  form  of  a 
petition  to  the  King;  renewed  their  non-importation  agreement, 
as  to  particular  articles  of  merchandise,  and  pledged  themselves 
to  continue  it  until  the  duty  on  tea  was  repealed. 

In  March,  1770,  an  affray  had  taken  place'in  Boston  between 
some  of  the  citizens  and  a  party  of  soldiers  of  one  of  the  British 
regiments  stationed  there,  in  which  the  latter  fired  on  the  towns- 
men, killed  three,  and  wounded  several.  This  incident  pro- 
duced great  sensation  in  the  other  colonies,  and  contributed  to 
keep  alive  their  jealousy  and  discontent;  yet,  from  this  time,  to 
the  year  1772,  they  made  no  other  resistance  to  the  attempt  to 
draw  a  revenue  from  them  than  by  the  voluntary  "Associations" 
that  have  been  mentioned.  But  New  York  having  rescinded 
its  non-importation  agreement,  as  to  all  articles  except  those 
subjected  to  duty,  the  example  was  followed  in  other  place?, 
and  consequently,  after  the  repeal  of  the  other  duties,  those 
agreements  were  limited  to  the  single  article  of  tea. 


51 


CHAPTER  III. 


His  Marriage.  Committees  of  Correspondence.  Boston  Port  Bill. 
Members  of  Assembly  enter  into  articles  of  Association.  Propose  a 
General  Congress.  First  Convention  in  Virginia.  His  vindication 
of  the  rights  of  America.  Proceedings  of  the  Convention — choose 
Deputies  to  a  General  Congress.  Character  of  that  Body.  The  Con- 
vention of  Virginia  assemble  at  Richmond.  Its  Proceedings.  Mr. 
Jefferson  chosen  a  Deputy  to  Congress.  The  Powder  withdrawn 
from  the  Public  Magazine  by  Lord  Dunmore.  The  popular  irrita- 
tion it  excited.  General  Assembly  convened.  Mr.  Jefferson  prepares 
a  reply  to  Lord  North's  j>ropositions.  Collision  between  the  Governor 
and  House  of  Burgesses.  Conduct  of  Lord  Dunmore. 

1772—1775. 

Ox  the  1st  of  January,  1772,  Mr.  Jefferson  married  Mrs. 
Martha  Skelton,  then  twenty-three  years  of  age,  of  whose  at- 
tractions and  gentle  virtues  tradition  speaks  most  favourably. 
She  was  the  widow  of  Bathurst  Skelton,  and  the  daughter  of 
John  Wayles,  a  lawyer  of  extensive  practice.  By  this  mar- 
riage Mr.  Jefferson  acquired  a  handsome  fortune,  as  Mr.  Wayles 
died  in  the  following  year,  and  divided  a  large  estate  among  his 
three  daughters. 

In  1772,  the  political  calm  which  seems  to  have  supervened 
in  the  southern  states  after  the  partial  repeal  of  the  obnoxious 
duties,  was  interrupted  by  an  occurrence  in  Rhode  Island.  A 
Court  of  Inquiry  was  there  held,  with  power  to  send  the  ac- 
cused to  England  for  trial;  and,  on  the  meeting  of  the  Virginia 
Assembly  in  the  spring  of  1773,  this  grievance  of  a  sister  colony 
was  thought  to  merit  their  special  notice.  Mr.  Jefferson  seems 
to  have  been  among  the  foremost  in  a  cause  in  which  all  were 
zealous.  The  zeal,  however,  of  the  greater  number,  being  more 
tempered  with  caution  than  suited  the  ardent  tempers  of  a  few 


52  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

master  spirits,  these  determined  to  meet  at  the  Raleigh,  to  con- 
sult on  the  measures  proper  to  be  pursued.  The  party,  consisting 
of  Patrick  Henry,  Richard  Henry  Lee,  his  brother  Francis 
Lightfoot  Lee,  Dabney  Carr,  Thomas  Jefferson,  and  two  or  three 
others,  drew  up  resolutions,  the  chief  object  of  which  was  to 
appoint  a  standing  Committee  of  Correspondence  and  Inquiry, 
consisting  of  eleven  persons,  whose  duty  it  should  be  to  obtain 
early  intelligence  of  the  proceedings  of  Parliament  respecting 
America;  to  maintain  a  correspondence  with  the  colonies;  to 
obtain  information  respecting  the  Court  of  Inquiry  recently  held 
in  Rhode  Island;  and  to  communicate  the  result  of  their  pro- 
ceedings to  the  House  of  Burgesses.  The  Legislatures  of  the 
other  colonies  were  invited  to  appoint  persons  to  correspond  with 
the  committee.  It  thus  appeared  that  the  policy  of  selecting 
one  of  the  weakest  colonies  for  the  experiment  of  an  odious 
measure,  would,  by  the  identity  of  feeling  which  pervaded  them 
all,  not  only  be  unavailing  to  the  British  government,  but  prove 
a  further  bond  of  union  to  the  colonies. 

Mr.  Jefferson  mentions  in  his  memoir,  that  the  consulting 
members  proposed  to  him  to  move  these  resolutions  in  the  house 
the  next  day;  but  that  he  declined  the  honour  in  favour  of  his 
brother-in-law,  Dabney  Carr,  a  new  member,  to  whom  he 
wished  to  afford  so  good  an  opportunity  of  making  his  talents 
known.  The  resolutions  were  accordingly  moved  by  Mr.  Carr 
on  the  12th  of  March,  supported  by  him  with  great  ability, 
and  unanimously  adopted  by  the  house.  It  may  be  fairly  pre- 
sumed, both  from  Mr.  Jefferson's  course  and  that  of  his  associates 
on  this  occasion,  that  these  resolutions  were  drawn,  and  had 
been  first  suggested,  by  himself.  The  members  of  this  impor- 
tant committee  were  Peyton  Randolph,  Robert  C.  Nicholas, 
Richard  Bland,  Richard  Henry  Lee,  Benjamin  Harrison,  Ed- 
mund Pendleton,  Patrick  Henry,  Dudley  Digges,  Dabney  Carr, 
Archibald  Cary  and  Thomas  Jefferson. 

A  generous  emulation  for  the  honour  of  promoting  the  cause 
of  the  Revolution  has  occasionally  given  rise  to  conflicting 
claims  among  the  several  states.  Of  this  character  are  the  rival 
pretensions  of  Massachusetts  and  Virginia  to  the  merit  of  ori- 
ginating those  powerful  engines  of  colonial  union  and  resistance 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERS05T.  53 

— the  Committees  of  Correspondence.  Chief  Justice  Marshall 
ascribes  their  origin  to  Massachusetts;  and  states,  that,  in  1770, 
the  Legislature  of  that  colony  appointed  a  committee  to  corre- 
spond with  such  committees  as  might  be  appointed  by  the  other 
colonies,  all  of  which,  sooner  or  later,  followed  the  example; 
and  that  similar  committees  were  appointed  by  the  other  towns 
of  Massachusetts,  for  the  purpose  of  corresponding  with  one 
another.  Gordon,  however,  to  whom  he  refers,  speaks  only  of 
the  last  mentioned  committees,  the  origin  of  which  he  ascribes 
to  James  Warren  and  Samuel  Adams,  of  Massachusetts,  and  is 
silent  as  to  the  committees  for  maintaining  correspondence 
among  the  several  colonies.  Mr.  Wirt,  on  the  other  hand,  gives 
the  honour  of  originating  these  committees  to  Virginia;  though 
he  admits,  on  the  authority  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  that  Massachusetts 
adopted  the  same  measure  so  nearly  at  the  same  time,  as  to  be 
entitled  to  equal  honour. 

Mr.  Jefferson,  noticing  this  subject  in  his  memoirs,  after  dis- 
tinguishing between  the  two  kinds  of  Corresponding  Commit- 
tees, relies  on  the  authority  of  Gordon  to  prove  that  Massachu- 
setts is  entitled  only  to  the  honour  of  originating  the  inferior 
Local  Committees,  while  he  claims  for  Virginia  a  similar  honour 
as  to  the  Committees  of  National  Correspondence.  He  admits 
and  explains  his  mistake  in  the  information  given  to  Mr.  Wirt, 
that  this  proposition  "was  nearly  simultaneous  in  Virginia  and 
Massachusetts." 

It  appears,  on  further  inquiry,  that  the  facts  are  accurately 
stated  by  Judge  Marshall,  and  that  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives of  Massachusetts,  on  the  7th  of  November,  1770,  appointed 
a  committee  to  correspond  with  committees  in  the  other  colo- 
nies, by  the  following  resolution: 

"Upon  motion,  ordered,  that  Mr.  Speaker,  (Thomas  Gush- 
ing,) Mr.  Hancock,  Mr.  Hall,  Mr.  Samuel  Adams,  and  Mr.  John 
Adams,  be  a  Committee  of  Correspondence,  to  communicate 
such  intelligence  as  may  be  necessary  to  the  agent  and  others 
in  Great  Britain;  and  also  to  the  speakers  of  the  several  assem- 
blies throughout  the  continent,  or  to  such  Committee  of  Corre- 
spondence as  they  have,  or  may  appoint.  Said  committee,  from 


54  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

time  to  time,  to  report  the  whole  of  their  correspondence  to  the 
House  of  Representatives,  and  to  confer  with  such  committee  as 
the  honourable  board  have  appointed  to  correspond  with  their 
agent,  as  far  as  they  shall  judge  it  necessary." 

The  claims  of  Massachusetts  to  the  merit  of  first  suggesting 
this  plan  of  concerted  resistance  may  indeed  be  carried  still 
farther  back;  as  in  1765,*  after  the  passage  of  the  stamp  act, 
her  House  of  Representatives  had  invited  a  meeting  of  deputies 
from  all  the  colonial  Legislatures,  "to  consult  together"  on  their 
common  "difficulties;"  and  afterwards,  in  February  1768,f  they 
again  addressed  a  circular  letter  to  all  the  colonial  Assemblies, 
in  which  they  dwelt  on  the  importance  of  harmony  in  their 
"representations,"  and  proposed  to  them,  severally,  a  mutual 
interchange  of  sentiment. 

But  notwithstanding  these  examples,  and  the  before  mentioned 
resolution  of  1770,  it  seems  to  be  conceded  that  the  Massachu- 
setts Corresponding  Committee  did  not  communicate  with  the 
other  colonies,  in  consequence,  it  is  said,  of  the  "severe  cen- 
sures" passed  in  'England  on  the  circular  letter  formerly  ad- 
dressed by  her  Legislature  to  the  other  colonies.J  As  then,  Vir- 
ginia, in  1773,  seems  not  to  have  been  prompted  by  the  example 
of  Massachusetts,  and  as,  moreover,  her  resolutions  did  not 
merely  authorize  a  correspondence  with  the  other  colonies,  but 
also  formally  requested  them  to  "appoint  some  person  or  persons 
of  their  respective  bodies,  to  communicate  from  time  to  time 

*  Prior  Documents,  p.  26.  f  Ib.  p.  191. 

%  The  resolution  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  Massachusetts- 
Bay,  in  1770,  appointing  a  Committee  of  Correspondence,  is  given  on  the 
authority  of  Ex-President  John  Q,.  Adams,  who  did  the  author  the 
favour,  in  answer  to  his  inquiries,  to  send  him  an  extract  from  the  Jour- 
nals of  the  House.  He  further  remarks,  "I  presume  this  was  the  first 
appointment  of  a  Committee  of  Correspondence  'of  this  class.'  It  is 
noticed  by  Alden  Bradford  in  his  History  of  Massachusetts,  from  1764  to 
1775— pages  237  and  276.  By  Gordon,  vol.  1,  p.  306,  and  in  the  third  vo- 
lume of  Hutchinson's  History  of  Massachusetts-Bay,  page  318.  It  is  also 
to  this  appointment  that  Judge  Marshall  refers  in  his  life  of  Washington, 
vol.  2,  p.  151,  first  edition.  Bradford,  in  a  note,  says,  it  does  not  appear 
that  this  committee  wrote  to  }he  other  colonies,  as  a  former  letter  to 
them  from  Massachusetts  had  been  so  severely  censured  in  England." 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  55 

with  the  said  committee;"  the  disputed  honour  may  be  fairly 
divided  between  the  two,  by  assigning  to  Massachusetts  the 
merit  of  first  suggesting  the  plan,  and  to  Virginia  that  of  giving 
it  efficacy. 

It  may,  however,  be  remarked,  that  there  probably  never 
was  a  case  in  which  several  district  communities  laboured  un- 
der a  common  grievance,  requiring  the  same  means  and  mea- 
sure of  redress,  which  did  not  consult  how  they  might  best  co- 
operate; and  that  to  have  proposed  so  natural  and  obvious  an 
expedient  should  be  deemed  an  honour  worthy  of  being  con- 
tested by  two  states,  is  to  be  imputed  to  the  importance  attached 
to  every  thing  connected  with  the  Revolution,  and  to  the  lustre 
which  the  achievement  of  national  independence  sheds  on  all  its 
agents  and  instruments. 

The  next  subject  which  enlisted  the  sympathies  of  Virginia 
was  the  Boston  port  bill,  by  the  provisions  of  which  that  town 
was  to  be  cut  off  from  all  foreign  trade  after  the  1st  of  June, 
1774,  as  a  punishment  for  its  destruction  of  the  tea  in  the 
December  preceding.  This  act  having  reached  Virginia  while 
the  Assembly  was  in  session,  Mr.  Jefferson  says,  that  a  number 
of  the  junior  members,  comprehending  Mr.  Henry,  the  two 
Lees,  and  two  or  three  others  with  himself,  no  longer  willing  to 
submit  the  direction  of  affairs  to  the  old  members,  but  deter- 
mining on  a  bolder  course,  assembled  in  the  Council  Chamber 
to  consult  on  the  measures  to  be  pursued.  By  way  of  rousing 
the  people  from  their  recent  lethargy,  they  decided  on  a  day  of 
general  fasting  and  prayer.  "With  the  help  of  Rushworth,"  he 
says,  "whom  we  rummaged  for  the  revolutionary  precedents 
and  forms  of  the  puritans  of  that  day,  we  cooked  up  a  resolu- 
tion— somewhat  modernizing  their  phrases — for  appointing  the 
1st  day  of  June,  on  which  the  port  bill  was  to  commence,  for  a 
day  of  fasting,  humiliation  and  prayer,  to  implore  Heaven  to 
avert  from  us  the  evils  of  civil  war,  to  inspire  us  with  firmness 
in  support  of  our  rights,  and  to  turn  the  hearts  of  the  King  and 
Parliament  to  moderation  and  justice."  They  then  resolve 
that  the  members  would  attend  in  their  places  on  the  first  of 
June,  at  ten  in  the  forenoon,  and  thence  "proceed  with  the 


56  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

Speaker  and  the  mace  to  the  Church,"  to  hear  prayers,  and  "a 
sermon  suitable  to  the  occasion."* 

Mr.  Jefferson's  account  of  this  procedure  conveys  the  idea 
that  the  order  or  resolution  was  prepared  in  a  somewhat  dif- 
ferent spirit  from  that  in  which  it  was  expected  to  be  read;  but 
such  discrepancy  will  be  commonly  found  wherever  the  aid  of 
religion  is  invoked  to  serve  a  political  purpose. 

The  next  morning,  as  had  been  agreed  on,  the  framers  of 
the  resolution  waited  on  Robert  Carter  Nicholas,  with  a  request 
that  he  would  offer  it — his  age  and  known  religious  character 
being  strictly  in  keeping  with  its  sentiments,  and  likely  to  give 
it  weight.  He  accordingly  made  the  motion  that  morning,  and 
it  passed  without  opposition.  On  the  following  day,  May  the 
25th,  the  governor,  Lord  Dunmore,  dissolved  the  assembly,  as- 
signing as  the  cause  this  order,  which,  he  said,  "was  conceived 
in  such  terms  as  to  reflect  highly  on  His  Majesty  and  the  Par- 
liament of  Great  Britain." 

The  members  then  repaired  to  the  Raleigh,  agreed  to  articles 
of  association,  signed  by  eighty-nine  members,  in  which  they 
pronounce  the  Boston  port  bill  the  result  of  a  "determined  sys- 
tem, formed  for  the  purpose  of  reducing  the  inhabitants  of 
British  America  to  slavery:"  they  declare  that  tea  "ought  not 
to  be  used"  by  any  well-wisher  to  constitutional  liberty  in 
America,  so  long  as  it  was  charged  with  a  duty  laid  for  raising 
a  revenue  in  that  country:  that,  from  the  course  pursued  by 
the  East  India  Company  "in  favour  of  arbitrary  taxation,"  they 
recommend  to  the  people  to  purchase  none  of  their  commodi- 
ties, except  saltpetre  and  spices,  until  their  grievances  were  re- 
dressed: that  an  attack  on  one  of  their  sister  colonies  was  an 
attack  upon  all,  and  threatened  the  ruin  of  all,  unless  it  was 
resisted  by  their  united  councils.  They  therefore  further  re- 
commend to  the  committee  of  correspondence,  to  communicate 
with  the  other  committees  "on  the  expediency  of  appointing 
deputies  from  the  several  colonies  of  British  America,  to  meet  in 
general  Congress,  at  such  place,  annually,  as  should  be  thought 

*  Wirt's  life  of  Henry,  p.  85. 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  57 

most  convenient,"  to  deliberate  on  the  measures  required  by 
their  common  interests.  They  significantly  add,  "a  tender  re- 
gard for  the  interests  of  our  fellow  subjects,  the  merchants  and 
manufacturers  of  Great  Britain,  prevents  us  from  going  farther 
at  this  time;  most  earnestly  hoping  that  the  unconstitutional 
principle  of  taxing  the  colonies  without  their  consent,  will  not 
be  persisted  in,  thereby  to  compel  us,  against  our  will,  to  avoid 
all  commercial  intercourse  with  Britain." 

Not  content  with  merely  proposing  a  general  Congress,  they 
took  measures  for  carrying  the  proposition  into  effect,  so  far  as 
Virginia  was  concerned.  They  agreed  that  the  members  who 
should  be  elected  under  the  writs  then  issuing,*  should  be  re- 
quested to  meet  in  convention,  in  Williamsburg,  on  the  1st  of 
August  following,  for  the  purpose  of  appointing  delegates  to  the 
Congress,  if  that  measure  should  be  approved  in  the  other  colo- 
nies, as  well  as  of  considering  the  state  of  public  affairs  gene- 
rally. 

The  heat  thus  excited  was  not  allowed  to  cool.  On  return- 
ing to  their  homes,  the  members,  as  had  been  concerted,  invited 
the  clergy  to  meet  assemblies  of  the  people  on  the  1st  of  June, 
and  after  performing  the  usual  religious  service,  to  address  them 
in  discourses  suited  to  the  occasion.  Thus  the  influence  exer- 
cised over  the  minds  of  the  people  by  their  spiritual  pastors,  was 
brought  to  act  on  their  worldly  concerns,  and  these  fervid  ap- 
peals from  the  pulpit,  co-operating  with  the  previous  state  of 
popular  feeling,  the  effect  was  irresistible.  Mr.  Jefferson  likens 
it  to  a  shock  of  electricity;  and  certainly  no  plan  could  have 
been  better  devised  to  keep  up  the  zeal  of  the  people,  which  is 
always  liable  to  flag  when  not  stimulated  by  fresh  excitement. 
The  several  counties  and  corporations  re-elected  the  former 
members,  without  exception,  and  at  the  same  time  appointed 

*This  fact  is  stated  on  the  authority  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  yet  it  is  not  no- 
ticed in  the  annals  of  the  times;  but  the  choice  of  deputies  is  mentioned 
by  them  as  a  distinct  election.  The  practice  seems  to  have  been  for  the 
people,  after  the  election  of  Burgesses,  under  the  forms  of  law,  was  over, 
to  enter  into  resolutions  appointing  the  same  members  deputies  to  the 
Convention,  and  stating  their  reasons  for  making  the  appointment. 

VOL.  I.— 8 


58  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

them  deputies  to  the  proposed  Convention,  which  was  thus,  in 
fact,  another  House  of  Burgesses  under  a  new  name,  unincum- 
bered  with  a  Council  and  unfettered  by  a  Governor. 

The  plan  of  a  general  Congress  having  been  approved  by  the 
corresponding  committees  in  the  several  colonies,  the  deputies 
to  the  Virginia  Convention  assembled,  as  had  been  agreed  on, 
at  Williamsburg,  on  the  1st  of  August. 

This  Convention  was  the  first  assembly  of  popular  represen- 
tatives in  Virginia  which  convened  without  the  express  au- 
thority of  law,  and  by  virtue  of  the  inherent  rights  of  the  people. 
Mr.  Jefferson,  who  was  one  of  the  deputies  of  Albemarle,  had 
previously  prepared  instructions,  which  he  meant  to  propose, 
for  the  delegates  whom  the  Convention  should  appoint  to  the 
General  Congress;  but  falling  sick  on  his  way  to  Williamsburg, 
and  unable  to  proceed,  he  sent  on  two  copies  of  the  instructions; 
one  to  Peyton  Randolph,  who  he  presumed  would  be  the  pre- 
sident of  the  Convention,  and  the  other  to  Patrick  Henry,  who 
could  be  their  ablest  advocate.  He  thus  notices  the  fate  of  this 
document:  "Whether  Mr.  Henry  disapproved  the  ground  taken, 
or  was  too  lazy  to  read  it  (for  he  was  the  laziest  man  in  reading 
I  ever  knew,)  I  never  learned;  but  he  communicated  it  to  no- 
body. Peyton  Randolph  informed  the  convention  he  had  re- 
ceived such  a  paper  from  a  member,  prevented  by  sickness 
from  offering  it  in  his  place,  and  he  laid  it  on  the  table  for  pe- 
rusal. It  was  read  generally  by  the  members,  approved  by 
many,  though  thought  too  bold  for  the  present  state  of  things; 
but  they  printed  it  in  pamphlet  form,  under  the  title  of  "a  sum- 
mary view  of  the  rights  of  British  America."  It  found  its  way 
to  England,  was  taken  up  by  the  opposition,  interpolated  by 
Mr.  Burke,  so  as  to  make  it  answer  opposition  purposes,  and  in 
that  form  ran  through  several  editions. 

Though  this  paper,  from  its  length,  as  well  as  the  startling 
novelty  of  some  of  its  doctrines,  may  not  have  been  exactly 
suited  to  its  purpose,  yet,  as  it  set  forth  the  principal  grievances 
of  all  the  colonies  in  clear  and  forcible  language,  and  in  a  spirit 
quite  in  harmony  with  the  tone  of  public  feeling,  it  added  no 
little  to  the  author's  reputation.  It  begins  by  assimilating  the 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  59 

first  English  settlers  in  America  to  their  Saxon  ancestors,  who 
had  emigrated  from  Germany,  and  asserts  that  the  right  of 
sovereignty  no  more  attached  to  the  parent  country  in  the  one 
case  than  the  other:  that  Great  Britain  having  afforded  to  her 
emigrants  important  aid  against  a  common  enemy,  they  were 
willing  to  give  in  return  such  privileges  in  trade  as  were  not 
too  restrictive  on  the  colonists:  that  the  emigrants  had  adopted 
the  laws  of  the  mother  country,  and  had  continued  their  politi- 
cal union  with  her,  by  acknowledging  the  authority  of  the  same 
common  sovereign.  It  complained  that  the  country,  acquired 
by  the  unassisted  efforts  of  the  emigrants,  was  assumed  to  be 
the  property  of  the  crown,  and  either  distributed  among  court 
favourites,  or  parcelled  out  into  separate  governments:  that 
their  natural  right  to  a  free  trade  with  all  the  world  had  been 
violated,  notwithstanding  the  formal  recognition  of  the  right  by 
a  treaty  made  in  1751,  between  the  commonwealth  of  England 
and  the  colony  of  Virginia:  that  by  several  acts  of  Parliament 
America  was  arbitrarily  prohibited  from  selling  to  other  coun- 
tries what  Great  Britain  would  not  purchase,  and  from  buying 
of  others  what  she  could  not  supply,  with  a  view  to  enhance 
the  profits  of  British  monopoly:  that,  in  the  same  spirit  of  injus- 
tice and  oppression,  an  American  was  forbidden  to  make  a  hat 
for  himself  of  the  fur  which  he  had  taken  perhaps  on  his  own 
soil,  or  to  manufacture  the  iron  which  he  himself  had  made. 

The  paper  then  refers  to  particular  acts  of  Parliament,  of 
recent  date,  to  shew  a  "systematic  plan  of  reducing  the  colonies 
to  slavery."  It  especially  notices  the  act  concerning  New  York, 
by  which  "one  free  and  independent  Legislature  takes  upon 
itself  to  suspend  the  powers  of  another,  free  and  independent 
as  itself;"  and  it  indignantly  asks,  "Can  any  reason  be  assigned 
why  one  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  electors  in  the  island  of 
Great  Britain  should  give  law  to  four  millions*  in  the  States  of 
America,  every  individual  of  whom  is  equal  to  every  individual 
of  them  in  virtue,  understanding,  and  in  bodily  strength?" 

The  Boston  port  bill,  the  act  imposing  a  duty  on  tea,  and  the 
destruction  of  the  tea  in  Boston,  are  also  noticed;  and  the  ty- 

*  Though  this  estimate  comprehended  Canada,  it  was  still  too  high  by 
a  million. 


60  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

ranny  of  punishing  all  the  inhabitants  of  that  town  for  the  act  of 
a  few,  is  vehemently  condemned.  Adverting  to  the  statute  which 
authorizes  the  Governor  to  send  any  person  charged  with  mur- 
der in  Boston  to  England  for  trial,  and  the  accumulation  of  in- 
jury which  may  thus  be  inflicted  on  the  accused,  it  adds:  "The 
cowards  who  would  suffer  a  countryman  to  be  torn  from  the 
bowels  of  their  society,  in  order  to  be  thus  offered  a  sacrifice  to 
parliamentary  tyranny,  would  merit  the  everlasting  infamy 
now  fixed  on  the  authors  of  the  act." 

Acts  of  Parliament  interfering  with  the  interior  legislation  of 
the  colonies  are  then  adverted  to:  as  the  abuses  of  the  royal  ne- 
gative, not  only  in  the  frequency  of  its  exercise,  particularly  on 
laws  prohibiting  the  further  importation  of  slaves,  but  also  by 
its  occasional  suspension  for  years,  whereby  the  most  wholesome 
laws  might  be  sometimes  unreasonably  delayed,  sometimes  sud- 
denly repealed,  or  laws  no  longer  suited  to  the  circumstances 
of  the  colony  be  unexpectedly  revived:  the  refusal  of  the  Go- 
vernor's assent  to  a  further  division  of  counties  in  Virginia,  ex- 
cept on  condition  that  the  new  county  have  no  representative 
in  the  Legislature:  the  abuse  of  the  power  of  dissolving-  the  colo- 
nial assemblies:  the  introduction  of  feudal  tenures  into  the  colo- 
nies, where  the  lands  are  properly  allodial;  and  the  king's  right 
to  grant  lands  of  himself  is  denied,  on  the  ground  that  "from 
the  nature  and  purpose  of  civil  institutions,  all  the  lands  within 
the  limits  which  any  particular  society  has  circumscribed  around 
itself,  are  assumed  by  that  society,  and  subject  to  their  allot- 
ment," in  defect  of  which  allotment,  mere  occupancy  will  give 
title. 

As  a  further  grievance,  it  is  stated  that  armed  forces  had 
been  sent  to  America,  though  the  king  "had  no  right  to  land  a 
single  armed  man  on  our  shores,"  without  the  same  authority 
from  the  Legislature  of  the  colony,  as  was  given  by  Parliament 
to  George  the  Second  to  introduce  Hanoverian  troops  into  Great 
Britain:  that  every  state  must  judge  for  itself  the  number  of 
armed  men  which  they  may  safely  trust  among  them;  of  whom 
they  are  to  consist,  and  under  what  restrictions  they  are  to  be 
laid."  The  paper,  in  conclusion,  thus  personally  appeals  to  the 
monarch:  "Open  your  breast,  sire,  to  liberal  and  expanded 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  61 

thought.  Let  not  the  name  of  George  the  Third  be  a  blot  on 
the  page  of  history.  You  are  surrounded  by  British  counsellors, 
but  remember  that  they  are  parties.  Let  no  act  be  passed  by 
any  one  legislature  which  may  infringe  on  the  rights  and  liber- 
ties of  another.  This  is  the  important  post  in  which  fortune 
has  placed  you,  holding  the  balance  of  a  great,  if  a  well  poised 
empire.  It  is  neither  our  wish  nor  our  interest  to  separate. 
We  are  willing,  on  our  part,  to  sacrifice  every  thing  which  rea- 
son can  ask,  to  the  restoration  of  that  tranquillity  for  which  all 
must  wish.  On  their  part,  let  them  name  the  terms,  but  let 
them  be  just — accept  of  every  commercial  preference  it  is  in 
our  power  to  give,  for  such  things  as  we  can  raise  for  their  use, 
or  they  make  for  ours.  But  let  them  not  think  to  exclude  us 
from  going  to  other  markets,  to  dispose  of  those  commodities 
which  they  cannot  use,  nor  to  supply  those  wants  which  they 
cannot  supply.  Still  less,  let  it  be  proposed  that  our  properties, 
within  our  own  territories,  shall  be  taxed  or  regulated  by  any 
power  on  earth  but  our  own.  The  God  who  gave  us  life,  gave 
us  liberty  at  the  same  time:  the  hand  of  force  may  destroy,  but 
cannot  disjoin  them."* 

Some  of  the  positions  taken  by  Mr.  Jefferson  in  this  exposi- 
tion of  his  country's  wrongs,  were  scarcely  deemed  tenable  at 
that  time,  even  in  America;  and  he  afterwards  frankly  says, 
"the  leap  1  then  proposed  was  too  long,  as  yet,  for  the  mass  of 
our  citizens."  The  Convention,  moreover,  might  have  thought 
it  best  to  omit  such  topics  as  were  likely  to  give  offence  to  the 
friends  of  America  in  Great  Britain,  or  mingled  doubtful  claims 
and  minor  grievances  with  the  more  serious  and  unquestionable 
causes  of  complaint.  They  therefore  prepared  another  set  of 

*Mr.  Jefferson  says  he  was  informed  by  Peyton  Randolph,  that  this 
document  procured  for  him  the  honour  of  a  place  on  a  list  of  proscribed 
American  patriots,  in  a  bill  of  attainder,  commenced  in  one  of  the  Houses 
of  Parliament,  but  suppressed  while  in  embryo,  by  the  course  of  events 
which  recommended  more  caution.  The  agent  of  the  House  of  Burgesses 
in  England  made  extracts  from  the  bill,  copied  the  names,  and  sent  them 
to  Peyton  Randolph.  Mr.  J.  thought  the  names  were  about  twenty,  but 
he  recollected  only  those  of  Hancock,  the  two  Adamses,  Peyton  Ran- 
dolph, Patrick  Henry,  and  his  own. 


62  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

instructions  more  accordant  with  their  views,  in  which,  after 
premising  the  necessity  for  a  general  Congress,  and  naming  the 
seven  deputies  whom  they  had  appointed  to  represent  Virginia 
in  that  body,  they  proceed  to  express  their  views  and  sentiments 
with  great  directness  and  simplicity. 

They  begin  with  averring  their  allegiance  to  George  the 
Third,  their  "lawful  and  rightful  sovereign,"  and  that  they 
were  determined,  with  their  "lives  and  fortunes,  to  support  him 
in  the  legal  exercise  of  all  his  just  rights  and  prerogatives;" 
that  they  sincerely  approved  of  a  constitutional  connexion  with 
Great  Britain,  and  a  return  of  the  intercourse  which  formerly 
united  the  two  countries.  They  assert,  that  British  subjects  in 
America  have  the  same  rights  and  privileges  "as  their  fellow 
subjects  in  Britain;"  and,  consequently,  that  the  power  assumed 
by  Parliament  to  bind  America,  in  all  cases,  is  unconstitutional, 
and  inconsistent  with  the  end  of  government.  In  illustration 
of  this,  they  refer  to  several  late  statutes  concerning  America. 
They  profess  acquiescence  in  the  restrictions  on  their  com- 
merce, so  long  as  they  are  not  unreasonable. 

They  declare,  that  to  obtain  redress  of  their  grievances,  they 
are  willing  to  stop  all  further  importations  from  Great  Britain 
after  the  1st  of  November  ensuing,  and  all  exportations  to  the 
same  country  after  the  10th  day  of  August  in  the  succeeding  year. 
They  assert  their  earnest  desire  to  discharge  their  debts  due  in 
Great  Britain,  and  assign  "the  heavy  injury  that  would  arise  to  the 
country,  from  an  earlier  adoption  of  the  non-exportation  plan," 
when  so  much  of  their  labour  had  been  applied  to  the  growing 
crop;  and  they  "had  been  prevented  from  pursuing  other 
methods  of  clothing  and  supporting  their  families,"  as  their  mo- 
tives for  thus  restricting  the  deputies  on  the  subject  of  exports. 
In  all  other  respects,  they  request  those/  deputies  to  co-operate 
cordially  with  the  other  colonies.  General  Gage's  proclamation, 
declaring  it  treasonable  for  the  people  of  Massachusetts-Bay  to 
assemble  "to  consider  of  their  grievances,  and  form  Associations," 
they  pronounce  to  be  odious,  alarming  and  illegal;  and  boldly 
assert,  that  the  attempt  to  carry  its  threats  into  execution, 
"will  justify  resistance  and  reprisal." 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  63 

In  these  instructions  may  be  perceived  that  prudence  by 
which  the  ardent  and  bold  checked  their  own  impetuosity,  until 
the  more  cautious  and  wavecing  could  come  up  with  them;  as  in 
a  fleet  bent  on  a  united  attack,  the  fastest  sailers  slacken  their 
course,  lest  they  should  be  too  far  in  advance  of  the  rest. 

The  convention  on  the  Gth  of  August  entered  into  an  agree- 
ment, or  "Association,"  contained  in  a  series  of  resolutions,  in 
which  they  advanced  some  steps  farther  than  the  same  indi- 
viduals had  done  in  their  "Association"  of  the  preceding  May. 
They  now  agreed,  and  recommended  to  all  the  other  inhabitants 
of  Virginia  to  agree.  1.  Not  to  import  any  British  merchan- 
dise after  the  1st  of  November  next.  2.  To  import  no  slaves. 
3.  To  use  no  tea  from  that  day,  nor  to  suffer  it  to  be  used  in 
their  families.  4.  To  purchase  no  East  India  commodity,  if 
any  of  the  colonists  should  be  compelled  to  pay  for  any  tea, 
forced  into  America  and  there  destroyed.  5.  To  export  no 
tobacco  after  the  10th  of  August,  1775,  and  in  lieu  of  its  culti- 
vation, to  encourage  manufactures.  6.  To  improve  the  breed 
of  sheep,  and  increase  their  number.  7.  To  deal  with  no  mer- 
chants who  took  advantage  of  the  scarcity  of  goods  to  enhance 
their  price.  8.  Nor  with  any  who  would  not  sign  this  Associa- 
tion; and  after  due  caution,  the  county  committees  are  required 
to  publish  the  names  of  such  as  did  not  conform  to  the  regula- 
tions here  prescribed.  9.  To  consider  the  exporters  of  tobacco 
after  the  10th  of  August,  1775,  as  "inimical  to  the  community," 
and  they  that  be  advertised  in  like  manner.  10.  To  abide  by 
such  alterations  in  these  articles  as  Congress  might  recommend, 
and  the  delegates  of  Virginia  assent  to.  11.  To  contribute 
speedily  and  liberally  to  the  relief  of  the  people  of  Boston. 
12.  That  the  moderator  of  the  meeting,  Robert  Carter  Nicholas, 
be  empowered  to  convene  the  delegates  at  such  time  and  place 
as  he  may  think  proper. 

The  deputies  chosen  to  represent  Virginia  in  the  General 
Congress  were  selected  with  great  care,  and  regard  was  had 
not  only  to  their  talents  and  weight  of  character,  but  also,  it  is 
said,  to  the  diversity  of  their  qualifications.  Thus  Peyton  Ran- 
dolph was  recommended  by  his  personal  dignity  and  acquaint- 


64  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

ance  with  the  rules  of  order:  George  Washington,  by  his  mi- 
litary talents  and  experience:  Richard  Henry  Lee,  by  his 
persuasive  oratory:  Patrick  Henry,  by  his  spirit-stirring 
eloquence,  and  because,  moreover,  he  was  the  man  of  the 
people.  Richard  Bland  was  deemed  the  best  writer  in  the 
colony.  Edmund  Pendleton  was  chosen  for  his  consummate 
prudence,  as  well  as  thorough  knowledge  of  law;  and  Benjamin 
Harrison,  as  fairly  representing  the  feelings  and  interests  of  the 
wealthy  planters.* 

It  had  been  arranged  by  the  Corresponding  Committees  that 
the  General  Congress  should  meet  at  Philadelphia  on  the  first 
Monday  in  September,  (the  4th,)  and  to  this  Assembly  the  eyes 
of  all  America  were  now  anxiously  turned;  for  it  was  obvious 
to  the  most  unreflecting,  that  it  must  be  only  by  united  coun- 
cils that  the  colonies  could  look  for  the  redress  of  their  wrongs, 
whether  Great  Britain  was  to  be  conciliated  or  resisted.  On 
the  appointed  day,  all  the  provinces,  from  Massachusetts  to 
South  Carolina,  inclusive,  except  North  Carolina,  were  found 
to  be  represented  in  Philadelphia;  and  on  the  following  day  they 
assembled  at  Carpenter's  Hall  in  Chestnut  street;  chose  Peyton 
Randolph  president;  and  organized  themselves  into  a  deliberate 
Assembly.  The  delegates  from  North  Carolina  attended  on  the 
14th. 

This  body,  consisting  in  all  of  fifty-five  members,  representing 
the  rights  and  interests  of  nearly  three  millions  of  people,  soon 
proved  themselves  worthy  of  the  high  trust  confided  to  them. 
The  debate  was  opened  by  Patrick  Henry,  of  whose  masterly 
display,  as  well  as  of  the  whole  scene,  Mr.  Wirt  has  given  a 
vivid  and  graphic  description,  in  accordance  with  the  tradition 
of  the  time.  After  some  days'  deliberation,  they  agreed  on  a 
declaration  of  rights  set  forth  in  ten  resolutions,  all  of  which, 
except  two,  passed  unanimously.  They  afterwards  entered 

*  These  gentlemen  were  all  selected  from  the  tide- water  portion  of  Vir- 
ginia, except  Patrick  Henry,  who  was  on  the  outer  skirt  of  it;  and  it  may 
serve  to  mark  the  change  which  sixty  years  have  made  to  state,  that  this 
portion  now  comprehends  little  more  than  six  of  the  twenty-one  congres- 
sional districts  in  the  slate. 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  65 

into  a  non-importation,  non-consumption,  and  non-exportation 
"Association,"  not  widely  different  frojn  that  which  had  been 
adopted  by  the  Virginia  Convention:  they  prepared  solemn 
addresses  to  the  King;  to  the  people  of  Great  Britain;  to  the 
inhabitants  of  British  America,  their  constituents;  and  to  the 
people  of  Canada:  and  lastly,  they  addressed  letters  to  the 
several  colonies  of  St.  John's,  Nova  Scotia,  Georgia,  and  the 
Floridas,  inviting  them  to  join  in  the  common  cause.  Amidst 
these  more  weighty  concerns,  they  did  not  fail  to  express  their 
sympathy  for  "the  sufferings  of  their  countrymen  in  Massachu- 
setts-Bay;" and  their  wishes  that  contributions  for  the  people  of 
Boston  should  be  continued  throughout  the  colonies. 

All  the  proceedings  of  this  illustrious  body  are  marked  with 
ability,  dignity,  and  zeal  tempered  with  discretion.  It  seemed 
as  if  the  love  of  country  had  filled  their  hearts  and  minds  with 
a  wisdom  and  purity  of  purpose  suited  to  the  greatness  of  the 
occasion.  The  papers  they  sent  forth  to  the  world  supported 
the  claims  of  the  colonists  with  a  force  of  reasoning  which  car- 
ried conviction  to  the  understanding,  and  in  that  style  of  manly 
eloquence  which  only  truth  and  justice  can  attain.  While  these 
illustrious  patriots  thus  inspired  their  countrymen  with  confi- 
dence and  enthusiasm,  they  added  respect  to  the  sympathy  which 
had  been  previously  felt  for  their  cause  by  the  more  liberal 
minded  in  England,  and  the  votaries  of  civil  liberty  every  where. 
This  first  Congress  has  always  been  to  Americans  an  object  of 
honest  pride,  unalloyed  with  censure  or  regret;  and  if  its  acts  be 
subjected  to  the  strictest  scrutiny,  now  that  every  feeling  of  the 
time  has  passed  away  except  the  love  of  country,  and  that  no 
longer  mounts  to  a  passion,  it  seems  to  have  well  merited  the 
high  eulogy  it  universally  received.  Among  its  members,  the 
Virginia  orators,  Henry  and  Lee,  bore  the  palm  for  eloquence 
in  debate;  but,  for  that  of  the  pen,  the  first  place  must  unques- 
tionably be  awarded  to  Mr.  Jay,  of  New  York;  and  the  second, 
to  the  author  of  the  petition  to  the  King,  who,  according  to  Mr. 
Jefferson,*  was  Mr.  Dickinson,  of  Pennsylvania.  But  in  the  no 


*  Wirt's  life  of  Henry,  p.  109. 
VOL.  I.— 9 


66  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

less  essential  qualities  of  sagacity  and  judgment,  of  unflinching 
courage  and  glowing  patriotism,  where  so  many  were  remark- 
able, it  would  be  difficult  to  assign  pre-eminence.  They  ad- 
journed on  the  26th  of  October,  sine  die,  having  first  recom- 
mended to  the  people  that  another  Congress  should  be  held  at 
the  same  place,  on  the  10th  of  the  ensuing  May. 

The  convention  of  Virginia  met,  according  to  adjournment,  at 
Richmond,  on  the  20th  of  March,  1775.  After  a  full  consider- 
ation of  the  proceedings  of  Congress,  it  unanimously  passed  on 
them  a  vote  of  approbation,  and  a  vote  of  thanks  to  the  dele- 
gates from  Virginia.  But  as  to  their  future  measures,  the  mem- 
bers manifested  the  difference  already  adverted  to  between  the 
sanguine  ardour  of  youth  and  the  cautious  spirit  of  age,  to  which, 
perhaps,  we  may  add  the  greater  tenacity  with  which  the  last 
clings  to  early  habits  and  attachments.  On  the  fourth  day  of 
its  session,  a  memorial  from  the  Assembly  of  Jamaica  to  the 
King,  which  exhibited  a  lively  sympathy  for  the  colonists,  having 
been  laid  before  the  Convention,  it  passed  a  resolution  highly 
complimentary  to  that  body,  and  concluding  with  the  assu- 
rance, that  it  was  "the  most  ardent  wish  of  the  colony  to  see  a 
speedy  return  of  those  halcyon  days,  when  they  lived  a  free  and 
happy  people."  Mr.  Henry  then  offered  two  resolutions  con- 
ceived in  a  very  different  spirit.  The  first  declared,  that  a  well 
regulated  militia  is  the  natural  strength  and  only  security  of  a 
free  government;  that  it  would  prevent  the  necessity  of  a  stand- 
ing army,  and  remove  the  pretext  of  laying  taxes  for  its  sup- 
port;* and  that  such  a  militia  was  peculiarly  necessary  at  that 
time  of  "danger  and  distress."  The  second  required  the  colony 
to  be  immediately  put  into  a  state  of  defence;  and  appointed  a 
committee  "to  prepare  a  plan  for  the  embodying,  arming  and 
disciplining  such  a  number  of  men  as  may  be  sufficient  for  that 
purpose." 

This  decisive  step  was  opposed  by  most  of  the  older  members 
as  premature;  but  was  finally  carried  by  the  force  of  Henry's 
eloquence,  which  showed  that  it  was  a  measure  of  as  much 

*  Wirt's  life  of  Henry,  p.  lie. 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  67 

prudence  as  boldness;  and  that  if  they  would  preserve  their 
liberties,  "they  must  fight."  A  committee  of  twelve  was  then 
appointed,  of  whom  Mr.  Jefferson  was  one,  to  prepare  the  plan 
of  defence;  and  on  the  following  day  they  reported  one  which 
was  adopted,  and  which,  by  its  simplicity,  was  suited  to  the 
limited  resources  of  the  country. 

It  recommended  to  each  county  to  form  one  or  more  volun- 
teer companies  of  infantry,  and  troops  of  horse,  "to  be  in  con- 
stant training,  and  readiness  to  act  on  any  emergency."  The 
counties  below  tide-water  were  recommended  to  raise  troops  of 
horse;  and  the  upper  counties  to  form  "a  good  infantry."  Every 
man  was  to  be  provided  with  a  rifle,  if  to  be  had,  or  otherwise 
with  a  common  firelock,  and  the  requisite  ammunition,  and  "to 
be  clothed  in  a  hunting  shirt,  by  way  of  uniform."  The  cavalry 
equipment  was  also  particularized.  To  secure  a  more  ample 
supply  of  ammunition,  the  County  Committees  were  recom- 
mended to  collect  as  much  money  as  would  purchase  half  a 
pound  of  gunpowder,  one  pound  of  lead,  with  the  necessary 
flints  and  cartridge  paper  for  every  "tithable  person"  in  the 
country. 

They  then  passed  an  unanimous  vote  of  thanks  to  Lord  Dun- 
more,  for  his  truly  noble,  wise  and  spirited  conduct  "on  his  late 
expedition  against  the  Indians;  and  another  to  the  officers  and 
soldiers  who  had  served  under  him:  appointed  a  committee  of 
thirteen  to  prepare  a  plan  "for  the  encouragement  of  arts  and 
manufactures:"  and  re-elected  by  ballot  the  former  delegates  to 
Congress. 

On  Monday,  the  27th,  the  Convention  adopted  the  various 
suggestions  of  the  committee,  for  the  encouragement  of  arts 
and  manufactures;  appointed  a  committee  of  five  to  enquire 
whether  the  King  could  of  right  "advance  the  terms  of  granting 
the  public  lands,  and  recommended  to  all  persons  to  forbear 
purchasing  on  those  conditions.  This  resolution  was  in  conse- 
quence of  a  recent  plan  of  the  Governor,  to  set  up  all  the  pub- 
lic lands  at  auction,  subject  to  a  perpetual  quit  rent  of  a  half 
penny  an  acre,  and  the  reservation  of  all  precious  minerals; 
which  plan,  besides  wasting  a  copious  source  of  national  revenue, 


68  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

would  have  raised  up  a  class  of  overgrown  landholders,  depen- 
dent on  the  crown.  Mr.  Jefferson  was  also  a  member  of  this 
committee.  As  it  was  foreseen  that  Mr.  Randolph  might, 
while  Congress  was  sitting,  be  required  to  attend  the  Virginia 
Assembly,  of  which  he  was  Speaker,  the  Convention  provision- 
ally appointed  Mr.  Jefferson  a  deputy  to  supply  his  place. 
Then,  having  declared  their  functions  at  an  end,  and  recom- 
mended to  the  people  to  represent  them  in  Convention  for  a 
year,  they  terminated  their  short  and  busy  session  of  eight 
days. 

On  the  following  day*  the  Governor  issued  a  proclamation, 
requiring  all  magistrates  to  prevent  the  appointment  of  deputies 
to  Congress,  and  exhorting  all  persons  whatever  to  desist  "from 
such  an  unjustifiable  proceeding,  so  highly  displeasing  to  his 
Majesty."  It  was,  without  doubt,  intended*  to  have  an  influ- 
ence on  the  members  of  the  Convention,  as  the  termination  of 
its  session  could  not  have  been  known  at  Williamsburg  at  the 
date  of  the  proclamation. 

In  pursuance  of  what  seems  to  have  been  a  systematic  plan 
of  the  ministry  in  England,  through  the  colonial  governors,  of 
disarming  the  American  people,  Lord  Dunmore,  on  the  night 
of  the  20th  of  April,  had  all  the  gunpowder  in  the  maga- 
zine at  Williamsburg,  removed  on  board  an  armed  schooner, 
then  lying  in  James  River,  except  a  few  barrels  which  were 
afterwards  found  buried  in  the  magazine.  The  colonists  had 
always  thought  it  prudent  to  have  a  depot  of  arms  and  ammu- 
nition at  this  place.  Such  a  measure  would  at  any  time  have 
caused  great  sensation;  but  the  effect  was  the  greater,  when,  in 
the  disposition  of  men  to  propagate  and  to  credit  causes  of 
alarm,  it  was  rumoured  that  the  slaves  had  in  many  places 
shown  symptoms  of  insurrection. 

The  corporation  of  Williamsburg  immediately  addressed  the 
Governor  on  the  subject,  and  earnestly  entreated  him  to  have 
the  powder  returned  to  the  magazine.  To  this  the  Governor 
replied, that,hearing  of  an  insurrection  in  a  neighbouring  county, 

*  Mr.  Wirt  is  mistaken  in  stating',  p.  129,  that  this  proclamation  was 
published  while  the  Convention  was  in  session. 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  69 

he  had  removed  the  powder  to  a  place  of  greater  security;  and 
that  whenever  it  was  wanted  for  an  insurrection,  it  should  be 
delivered  in  half  an  hour;  but,  in  the  mean  time,  while  the  peo- 
ple were  so  excited,  and  under  arms,  he  did  not  think  it  prudent 
to  trust  them  with  it.  The  indignation  and  alarm  which  this 
occurrence  occasioned  throughout  the  colony,  was,  without 
doubt,  heightened  by  the  battle  of  Lexington;  the  news  of  which 
reached  Virginia  a  few  days  after  the  removal  of  the  powder; 
and  in  several  of  the  counties  volunteer  companies  prepared  to 
march  to  Williamsburg  to  regain  the  powder,  or  make  reprisal 
for  its  value.  Patrick  Henry,  profiting  by  this  martial  temper, 
put  himself  at  the  head  of  a  company  of  volunteers;  and  while 
on  his  march  to  the  seat  of  government,  was  prevailed  upon  by 
some  prudent  friends  to  receive,  in  behalf  of  the  Virginia  dele- 
gates to  Congress,  the  value  of  the  powder  from  the  King's  re- 
ceiver-general. 

The  irritation  thus  excited  between  the  Governor  and  the 
people  of  Virginia,  was  kept  alive  by  fresh  provocations  on  both 
sides,  so  as  sometimes  to  place  them  on  the  verge  of  open  hos- 
tility, until  late  in  May,  when  the  Governor  determined  to  con- 
vene the  General  Assembly  on  the  1st  of  June,  for  the  purpose 
of  laying  before  them  Lord  North's  "conciliatory  propositions." 

These  propositions  were  made,  it  is  supposed,  less  with  an 
expectation  of  restoring  harmony,  than  of  uniting  the  people  of 
England,  and  thus  giving  strength  to  the  ministry.  But  as,  in 
the  event  of  their  partial  success  in  America,  they  would  pro- 
duce a  division  among  the  colonies,  no  pains  were  spared  to  re- 
commend them  to  the  colonial  legislatures.  It  was  in  this  spirit 
that  Lord  Dunmore  addressed  the  Assembly  in  his  opening 
speech,  and  leaving  out  of  view  that  feature  of  the  propositions 
which  made  them  nugatory,  he  assured  them  that  in  contribut- 
ing their  proportion  of  the  public  expense,  "no  specific  sum  was 
demanded"  of  them,  and  "their  gift,  if  they  should  be  induced 
to  offer  any,  might  be  in  the  completest  manner  free."  He  also 
recommended  to  them  to  provide  for  the  officers  and  soldiers 
who  had  served  in  the  late  expedition  against  the  Indians,  and 
expressed  the  hope  that  the  courts  of  justice  would  be  forthwith 


70  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

opened.  They  had  been  closed  for  civil  business,  since  the  pre- 
ceding June,  because  the  law  regulating  the  fees  of  officers  had 
expired,  and  the  enactment  of  another  had  been  prevented  by 
the  hasty  dissolution  of  the  Assembly. 

A  committee  of  thirteen  members  was  appointed  to  prepare 
an  answer  to  the  Governor's  speech,  which  was  accordingly 
done  by  Mr.  Nicholas,  the  chairman,  and  presented  on  Monday, 
the  5th  of  June,  by  the  whole  house.  It  was  temperate  and 
respectful;  professed  unshaken  allegiance  to  the  king,  and  un- 
abated attachment  to  the  constitution;  explained  why  the  courts 
of  justice  had  been  partially  closed,  but  expressed  a  doubt  in 
the  present  suspension  of  their  commerce,  to  which  the  colony 
had  found  it  necessary  to  resort,  if  it  would  be  prudent  to  open 
them.  They  professed  themselves  ready  to  provide  for  the  ex- 
pense of  the  Indian  expedition.  Adverting  then  to  a  plan  of 
conciliation,  they  said  they  would  give  it  a  separate  answer, 
after  bestowing  on  it  the  consideration  its  importance  demanded. 

To  Mr.  Jefferson  was  assigned  the  duty  of  preparing  this  part 
of  their  reply,  at  the  instance  of  Peyton  Randolph,  who  was 
anxious  that  the  course  pursued  by  Virginia  should  harmonize 
with  the  sentiments  and  wishes  of  Congress,  and  who  thought 
that  Mr.  Nicholas,  the  chairman,  was  not  bold  enough  for  the 
times. 

But  before  it  was  presented,  the  mutual  distrust  between  the 
Governor  and  the  people  brought  about  a  crisis  which,  in  no 
long  time  afterwards,  terminated  the  session  of  the  Assembly, 
and  with  it  the  regal  authority  in  Virginia.  0 

On  Monday,  the  5th,  the  House  appointed  a  committee  of 
twenty-one  members,  to  inquire  into  the  late  disturbances,  and 
the  state  of  the  public  magazine.  But  on  the  same  night,  some 
young  men  attempting  to  enter  it  to  obtain  arms,  two  of  them 
were  wounded  by  a  spring  gun,  placed  there  by  order  of  the 
Governor,  and  of  which  no  notice  had  been  given. 

The  ferment  which  this  piece  of  cold-blooded  malice  and  re- 
venge excited  among  the  people,  was  not  lessened  when,  two 
days  afterwards,  the  committee  appointed  to  inspect  the  maga- 
zine, whose  application  for  the  keys  had  at  first  been  evaded 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  71 

by  the  Governor,  found  that  the  good  muskets  had  been  de- 
prived of  their  locks,  and  that  five  barrels  of  powder  had  been 
buried  in  the  magazine,  for  the  purpose,  it  was  supposed,  of  per- 
petrating still  more  serious  mischief.  On  the  same  day,  it  being 
reported  that  Captain  Collins,  of  the  Magdalen,  was  then  on 
his  march  to  the  city  with  a  hundred  men,  the  people  imme- 
diately assembled  under  arms;  but  on  learning  the  Governor's 
assurances  to  the  Council  that  the  rumour  was  unfounded,  they 
quietly  dispersed.  His  lordship,  feeling  himself  the  object  of  gene- 
ral odium  or  resentment,  and  conscious  of  deserving  it,  thought 
it  prudent  to  leave  the  city  with  his  family  that  night,  or  rather 
at  two  o'clock  in  the  morning,  for  the  Fowey  man-of-war,  then 
lying  at  York.  He  left  a  letter  for  the  House,  in  which  he  as- 
signed the  insecurity  of  himself  and  his  family  as  the  cause  of 
his  removal,  but  said  he  should  continue  to  discharge  the  duties 
of  his  office  as  before,  and  urged  them  to  proceed  with  the  pub- 
lic business.  The  two  Houses  of  Assembly  the  next  day  united 
in  an  address  to  the  Governor,  in  which  they  warmly  deprecate 
the  imputation  of  danger  to  himself  or  his  family,  and  earnestly 
entreat  him  to  return,  as  the  best  means  of  restoring  the  public 
tranquillity,  and  without  which  it  would  be  impracticable  to 
carry  on  the  public  business.  This  address  was  without  effect, 
and  his  lordship  and  the  House  of  Burgesses  continued  to  inter- 
change messages,  sometimes  with  the  show  of  moderation,  and 
sometimes  openly  taunting  or  acrimonious,  until  the  24th  of 
June,  when  the  Governor  having  again  refused  to  meet  them 
for  the  purpose  of  receiving  such  bills  as  were  ready  for  his  as- 
sent, except  on  board  the  Fowey,  they  passed  resolutions  de- 
claring this  a  breach  of  their  privileges,  and  adjourned. 

A  part  of  their  proceedings  merits  a  more  particular  notice. 
On  the  12th  of  June,  the  answer  to  the  conciliatory  propositions 
prepared  by  Mr.  Jefferson  was  reported  to  the  House,  and  hav- 
ing received  a  few  softening  touches  from  some  of  the  senior 
members,  was  adopted.  In  this  paper  the  Burgesses,  after  pro- 
fessing their  wish  for  a  reconciliation  with  the  mother  country, 
as,  next  to  the  possession  of  liberty,  "the  greatest  of  all  human 
blessings,"  declare,  that  they  cannot  accept  the  proffered  terms, 


72  THE  LIl'E  01'  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

for  the  following  reasons:— because  the  support  of  civil  govern- 
ment belongs  exclusively  to  themselves,  in  proof  of  which  they 
refer  to  an  act  of  Charles  II:  because  the  colonies  have  the 
right  of  giving  their  money,  as  the  parliament  do  theirs,  without 
coercion,  from  time  to  time,  as  public  exigencies  may  require; 
that  it  was  not  merely  the  mode  of  raising,  but  the  freedom  of 
granting  this  money,  for  which  they  had  contended:  because, 
though  the  colony  should  grant  the  money  as  proposed,  all  other 
grievances  were  left  unredressed:  because,  at, the  very  time 
of  requiring  grants  of  money,  the  government  was  preparing  to 
invade  the  country  by  sea  and  land:  because  the  colonists,  on 
contributing  their  quota  to  the  common  defence,  were  not  al- 
lowed to  share  in  the  benefits  of  a  free  trade,  and  Great  Bri- 
tain should  be  content  either  with  a  monopoly  of  their  com- 
merce, or  with  a  smaller  contribution  from  them  to  the  expense 
of  government:  and  lastly,  because  the  propositions  involved  the 
interest  of  all  the  colonies,  and  they  were  bound,  by  a  regard  to 
their  honour,  as  well  as  safety,  not  to  treat  separately.  Lord 
Chatham's  bill  was  mentioned  as  affording  a  proper  basis  for 
negotiation;  and,  referring  the  subject  to  the  general  Congress 
then  sitting,  they  conclude  in  the  following  animated  strain: 

"For  ourselves,  we  have  exhausted  every  mode  of  application 
which  our  invention  could  suggest,  as  proper  and  promising. 
We  have  devoutly  remonstrated  with  Parliament;  they  have 
added  new  injuries  to  the  old.  We  have  wearied  our  king  with 
supplications;-  he  has  not  deigned  to  answer  us.  We  have  ap- 
pealed to  the  native  honour  and  justice  of  the  British  nation; 
their  efforts  in  o'ur  favour  have  hitherto  been  ineffectual.  What 
then  remains  to  be  done?  That  we  commit  our  injuries  to  the 
even-handed  justice  of  that  Being  who  doth  no  wrong,  earnestly 
beseeching  him  to  illuminate  the  councils,  and  prosper  the  en- 
deavours of  those  to  whom  America  hath  confided  her  hopes; 
that  through  their  wise  direction  we  may  again  see  reunited 
the  blessings  of  liberty  and  property,  and  the  most  permanent 
harmony  with  Great  Britain." 

As  soon  as  the  address  was  agreed  to,  Mr.  Jefferson  set  out 
for  Philadelphia,  and  communicated  to  Congress  the  first  notice 


THE   LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  73 

of  the  course  taken  by  Virginia,  which  met  their  entire  appro- 
bation, 

The  committee  appointed  to  inquire  into  the  late  disturbances, 
made  their  report  on  the  IGth,  and  they  shew,  on  the  testimony 
of  a  great  number  of  witnesses,  many  of  them  merchants  and 
natives  of  Great  Britain,  that  the  colony  was  in  a  state  of  tran- 
quillity before  the  removal  of  the  gunpowder,  but  that  the 
minds  of  the  people  were  greatly  inflamed  by  that  event,  and 
the  reports  that  the  Governor  meant  to  give  freedom  to  the 
slaves;  that  the  suspension  of  civil  suits  since  June  of  the  pre- 
ceding year  was  owing  to  the  expiration  of  the  fee  bill;  and  that 
few  or  none  wished  to  be  independent  of  Great  Britain. 

In  the  resolutions  passed  by  the  Burgesses  before  they  ad- 
journed, they,  with  their  wonted  prudence,  guarded  both  against 
alienating  their  friends  and  furnishing  arguments  to  their  ene- 
mies, either  in  England  or  Virginia.  While,  therefore,  they  indi- 
cate to  their  constituents  the  necessity  of  their  preparing  for  the 
preservation  of  their  property,  "their  inestimable  rights  and 
liberties,"  and  regret  that  they  had  been  deprived  of  the  oppor- 
tunity of  providing  for  "the  gallant  officers  and  soldiers"  who 
had  lately  defended  the  country  on  the  frontier,  they,  in  the 
most  emphatic  terms,  assert  their  loyalty  to  the  king,  and  their 
wish  "to  preserve  and  strengthen  the  bands  of  amity"  with 
their  fellow-subjects  in  Great  Britain.  Thus  closed  a  session 
which,  though  it  is  not  marked  in  the  statute  book  by  the  pas- 
sage of  a  single  law,  is,  by  its  agency  in  severing  the  ties  of 
colonial  dependence,  the  most  memorable  of  any  under  the  regal 
government. 

It  was  fortunate  for  the  cause  of  independence  in  Virginia 
that  the  course  pursued  by  the  royal  Governor,  at  this  time, 
was  so  little  likely  to  inspire  esteem  or  respect.  It  no  doubt 
contributed  to  sever  the  last  ties  of  attachment  to  England,  and 
to  efface  those  sentiments  of  loyalty  on  which  the  people  of  this 
"colony  and  dominion"  had  always  prided  themselves.  To  this 
cause,  too,  may  be  ascribed,  in  part,  the  unanimity  which  pre- 
vailed here,  perhaps  to  a  greater  extent  than  in  any  other  state. 
A  few  of  the  Governor's  acts  may  be  mentioned  as  a  specimen 

VOL.  L— 10 


74  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

of  the  rest,  and  as  presenting  no  unapt  sample  of  the  style  in 
which  the  royal  dignity  and  authority  were  sometimes  person- 
ated by  the  colonial  Governors. 

The  day  after  the  gunpowder  was  removed,  adverting  to  the 
popular  indignation  it  excited,  he  swore  "by  the  living  God, 
that  if  a  grain  of  powder  was  burnt  at  Captains  Joy  or  Collins, 
or  if  any  injury  or  insult  was  offered  to  himself,  he  would  de- 
clare freedom  to  the  slaves,  and  reduce  Williamsburg  to  ashes." 
Declarations  of  similar  import  he  repeatedly  made. 

The  first  reason  assigned  by  him  for  the  seizure  of  the  pow- 
der, in  answer  to  the  corporation  of  Williamsburg,  was,  that  he 
had  heard  of  an  insurrection  in  a  neighbouring  county.  The 
reason  he  afterwards  assigned  to  the  House  of  Burgesses  was, 
that  "the  magazine  was  an  insecure  depository;"  but  he  added, 
as  soon  as  it  was  made  secure,  the  powder  should  be  restored. 
And  when  he  was  subsequently  informed  by  the  House  that  the 
magazine  had  been  put  in  repair,  and  was  reminded  of  his  pro- 
mise, he  replied,  that,  as  he  no  longer  resided  in  Williamsburg,' 
he  could  not  depend  upon  the  security  of  the  powder  there,  and 
that,  moreover,  as  it  had  been  received  from  the  Rippon  man- 
of-war,  he  was  accountable  for  it.  By  which  flimsy  and  vary- 
ing excuses,  he  plainly  showed  that,  in  his  unwillingness  to  avow 
his  real  motive,  he  had  no  scruple  about  alleging  a  false  one. 

In  one  of  his  messages  concerning  the  powder,  by  way  of  ob- 
taining credit  for  the  goodness  of  his  motives,  he  told  the  House 
that  "he  had  once  ventured,  and,  if  occasion  offered,  he  would 
again  venture,  his  life  in  the  service  of  the  country."  The 
House,  in  reply,  expressed  its  sense  of  his  recent  services;  but 
the  answer  having  been  delayed,  by  his  withdrawal  from  the 
seat  of  government,  and  the  messages  to  which  it  gave  rise,  his 
lordship  reminded  them  of  the  tardiness  of  their  acknowledg- 
ments with  as  little  reserve  as  he  had  proclaimed  his  own  merits. 

The  committee  appointed  by  the  House  to  inspect  the  maga- 
zine, consisting  of  twenty-one  members,  called  on  him  for  the 
keys,  and,  "to  avoid  mistakes,"  left  with  him  a  written  paper, 
respectfully  explaining  their  object  and  motives.  But  because 
this  paper,  which  purported  to  be  from  the  committee,  was 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  75 

without  date  or  signature,  he  affected  not  to  understand  it,  and 
actually  wrote  to  the  House  the  next  day  to  know  whether  it 
had  authorized  the  application,  and  this,  too,  after  he  had  pro- 
mised the  committee  "to  furnish  the  key  as  soon  as  he  could 
procure  it." 

When  the  two  Houses  proposed,  after  he  had  left  the  palace, 
that  the  arms  there  deposited  should  be  removed  to  the  maga- 
zine, as  in  his  absence  they  were  "exposed  to  his  servants  and 
to  every  rude  invader,"  he  told  them  they  were  "interfering  in 
a  matter  which  did  not  belong  to  them,"  and  asked  them  who 
they  meant  by  the  term  "rude  invaders?" 

On  the  whole,  the  conduct  of  Lord  Dunmore,  after  his  real 
character  began  to  develope  itself,  was  one  tissue  of  bullying 
and  evasion,  haughtiness  and  meanness.  He  often  dealt  out 
threats  which  it  was  undignified  to  utter,  and  would  have  been 
base  to  execute,  but  which,  it  too  plainly  appeared,  were  not 
executed,  because  his  talents  and  courage  was  not  equal  to  his 
vengeful  malignity;  and  he  failed  in  his  promises  yet  more  than 
in  his  threats.  The  vices  of  his  character  were  the  more  strik- 
ing from  the  contrast  presented  by  the  House  of  Burgesses.  In 
language  frank  and  manly,  but  at  the  same  time  temperate  and 
decordus,  they  vindicated  themselves  and  their  constituents 
against  all  his  injurious  imputations;  they  exposed  his  subter- 
fuges and  inconsistencies,  and  proved  his  usurpations.  The  facts 
on  which  they  relied  were  derived  either  from  his  own  mes- 
sages, or  from  testimony  which  could  not  be  questioned.  In 
argument,  as  in  acts,  their  triumph  was  complete.  The  extra- 
ordinary moderation  and  forbearance  they  exhibited  in  this 
controversy,  may  in  part  be  attributed  to  the  habitual  respect 
which  was  then  paid  to  the  representative  of  majesty,  add  partly 
to  the  supposed  importance  of  putting  their  adversary  in  the 
wrong,  and  of  securing  the  favour  and  sympathy  of  the  world: 
but  after  making  allowance  for  these  considerations,  the  self- 
command  with  which  the  representatives  of  a  free  and  proud 
people  bore  the  insolent  freaks  and  taunts  of  this  lordly  satrap, 
may  well  excite  the  wonder  of  their  descendants. 

The  remainder  of  Dunmore's  inglorious  career  may  now  be 


76  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

told.  After  the  adjournment  of  the  House  of  Burgesses,  he 
prepared  to  carry  on  offensive  operations  against  the  colonists 
by  all  the  means  he  possessed,  and  in  this  purpose  he  seemed 
to  be  prompted  more  by  a  spirit  of  vengeance,  that  by  any  hope 
of  reducing  the  country  to  submission.  Having  established  his 
head-quarters  at  Norfolk,  with  the  small  naval  force  under  his 
command  he  greatly  annoyed  the  inhabitants  who  were  settled 
on  the  bays  and  rivers,  by  a  predatory  warfare;  and  in  Novem- 
ber, he  proclaimed  martial  law  throughout  the  colony,  and  exe- 
cuted his  long-threatened  plan  of  giving  freedom  to  all  slaves 
who  could  bear  arms  and  would  flock  to  his  standard.  But 
these  measures,  though  partially  annoying,  had  the  effect  of 
irritating  and  rousing  the  people,  rather  than  in  breaking  their 
spirit.  The  whole  powers  of  legislation  now  devolved  on  the 
Convention,  while  the  executive  functions  were  performed  by 
a  "committee  of  safety:"  and  after  many  petty  enterprises  and 
skirmishes,  attended  with  various  success,  and  finally  setting 
fire  to  Norfolk, -he  was  compelled  again  to  take  refuge  to  his 
ships,  and,  ere  the  middle  of  the  following  year,  the  country  was 
rid  of  him,  together  with  such  of  the  tories  and  negroes,  who 
had  resorted  to  his  standard,  as  escaped  the  ravages  of  war  and 
the  small  pox. 


77 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Declaration  by  Congress  of  the  causes  of  taking  up  arms.  The  mani- 
festos of  Congress.  Mr.  Jefferson's  share  in  those  papers.  Is  re- 
elected  to  Congress.  His  previous  views  on  Independence.  Progress 
of  Public  Sentiment.  Proceedings  of  the  Virginia  Convention.  De- 
claration of  Independence  moved  in  Congress.  Mr.  Jefferson  prepares 
the  draught.  When  adopted  and  signed.  Its  character.  He  retires 
from  Congress.  Elected  to  the  General  Assembly  of  Virginia.  Abo- 
lition of  entails— Primogeniture.  Their  effects  considered.  Church 
establishment  in  Virginia.  Its  gradual  abolition.  Entire  freedom  of 
religion.  Its  consequences. 

1775—1779. 

IT  was  on  the  twenty-first  day  of  June,  1775,  that  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson, then  thirty-two  years  of  age,  took  his  seat  in  that  august 
body,  on  whose  prudence  and  firmness  hung  the  political  desti- 
nies of  British  America.  They  had  been  in  session  from  the 
10th  of  May  preceding,  in  which  time  they  had  formed  the 
plan  of  a  confederacy,*  under  the  name  of  The  United  Colonies 
of  North  America,  for  their  mutual  defence  and  common  welfare, 
to  take  effect,  when  ratified  by  the  Provincial  Assemblies,  and 
to  continue  until  their  grievances  were  redressed.  They  had 
also  decided  on  raising  an  army;  on  creating  a  paper  currency; 
and  had  appointed  Colonel  George  Washington  Commander-in- 
Chief  of  the  confederate  forces. 

Mr.  Jefferson's  reputation,  as  a  writer,  had  already  preceded 
him  in  this  body,  and,  in  five  days  after  he  had  joined  it,  we 
find  him  one  of  an  important  committee  appointed  to  prepare  a 
declaration  of  the  causes  of  taking  up  arms. 

This  committee  was  nominated  on  the  24th  of  June;  and 
the  first  report  they  made  not  being  approved,  Mr.  Jeffer- 

*See  Appendix  A. 


78  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

son  and  Mr.  Dickinson  were  added  to  the  committee.  A  second 
address  was  drawn  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  but  it  being  too  bold  for 
Mr.  Dickinson,  who  still  hoped  for  a  reconciliation  with  Great 
Britain,  and  who  was  greatly  respected  both  for  his  integrity 
and  talents,  he  was  requested  to  alter  the  paper  to  his  taste. 
This  he  did,  by  preparing  a  new  one,  adopting,  however,  the 
concluding  part  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  draught.  It  was  accepted  by 
the  house;  and  the  part  furnished  by  Mr.  Jefferson  is  here  given, 
as  a  specimen  of  his  sentiments  and  diction  at  that  time. 

"We  are  reduced  to  the  alternative  of  choosing  an  uncondi- 
tional submission  to  the  tyranny  of  irritable  ministers,  or  re- 
sistance by  force.  The  latter  is  our  choice.  We  have  counted 
the  cost  of  this  contest,  and  find  nothing  so  dreadful  as  voluntary 
slavery.  Honour,  justice  and  humanity  forbid  us  tamely  to 
surrender  that  freedom  which  we  received  from  our  gallant 
ancestors,  and  which  our  innocent  posterity  have  a  right  to  re- 
ceive from  us.  We  cannot  endure  the  infamy  and  guilt  of 
resigning  succeeding  generations  to  the  wretchedness  which 
inevitably  awaits  them,  if  we  basely  entail  hereditary  bondage 
upon  them. 

"Our  cause  is  just.  Our  union  is  perfect — our  internal  re- 
sources are  great,  and,  if  necessary,  foreign  assistance  is  undoubt- 
ably  attainable.  We  gratefully  acknowledge,  as  signal  instances 
of  the  divine  favour  towards  us,  that  his  providence  would  not 
permit  us  to  be  called  into  this  severe  controversy,  until  we  were 
grown  up  to  our  present  strength,  had  been  previously  exercised 
in  warlike  operations^  and  possessed  of  the  means  of  defending 
ourselves.  With  hearts  fortified  with  these  animating  reflec- 
tions, we  most  solemnly, before  God  and  the  world,  declare,  that, 
exerting  the  utmost  energy  of  those  powers  which  our  beneficent 
Creator  hath  graciously  bestowed  upon  us,  the  arms  we  have 
been  compelled  by  our  enemies  to  assume,  we  will,  in  defiance 
of  every  hazard,  with  unabated  firmness  and  perseverance, 
employ  for  the  preservation  of  our  liberties;  being  with  one  mind, 
resolved  to  die  freemjen  rather  than  to  live  slaves. 

"Lest  this  declaration  should  disquiet  the  minds  of  our  friends 
and  fellow-subjects  in  any  part  of  the  empire,  we  assure  them, 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  79 

that  we  mean  not  to  dissolve  that  union  which  has  so  long  and 
so  happily  subsisted  between  us,  and  which  we  sincerely  wish 
to  see  restored.  Necessity  has  not  yet  driven  us  into  that  des- 
perate measure,  or  induced  us  to  excite  any  other  nation  to  war 
against  them.  We  have  not  raised  armies,  with  ambitious  de- 
signs of  separating  from  Great  Britain,  and  establishing  inde- 
pendent states.  We  fight  not  for  glory,  or  for  conquest.  We 
exhibit  to  mankind  the  remarkable  spectacle  of  a  people  at- 
tacked by  unprovoked  enemies,  without  any  imputation,  or  even 
suspicion  of  offence.  They  boast  of  their  privileges  and  civili- 
zation, and  yet  proffer  no  milder  conditions  than  servitude  or 
death. 

"In  our  own  native  land,  in  defence  of  the  freedom  that  is  our 
birth-right,  and  which  we  ever  enjoyed  until  the  late  violation 
of  it;  for  the  protection  of  our  property,  acquired  solely  by  the 
honest  industry  of  our  forefathers  and  ourselves,  against  violence 
actually  offered,  we  have  taken  up  arms.  We  shall  lay  them 
down  when  hostilities  shall  cease  on  the  part  of  the  aggressors, 
and  all  danger  of  their  being  renewed  shall  be  removed,  and 
not  before. 

"With  an  humble  confidence  in  the  mercies  of  the  supreme 
and  impartial  judge  and  ruler  of  the  universe,  we  most  devoutly 
implore  his  divine  goodness  to  conduct  us  happily  through  this 
great  conflict,  to  dispose  our  adversaries  to  reconciliation  on 
reasonable  terms,  and  thereby  to  relieve  the  empire  from  the 
calamities  of  civil  war."* 

From  more  than  one  anecdote  related  in  Mr.  Jefferson's  auto- 
biographical sketch,  the  pride  of  authorship  relative  to  the  se- 
veral public  addresses  which  emanated  from  that  body,  mingled 
itself  with  their  grave  and  momentous  deliberations.  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson, on  the  authority  of  one  of  his  colleagues,  had  attributed 
the  address  to  the  people  of  Great  Britain,  which  issued  from 

*  It  is  not  unworthy  of  notice  that  the  above  extract,  adopted  from  Mr. 
Jefferson's  draught,  is  precisely  that  part  of  Mr.  Dickinson's  paper  which 
annalists  have  commonly  quoted.  It  probably  owes  this  distinction  not 
wholly  to  its  intrinsic  superiority,  but  in  part  also  to  its  harmonizing  bet- 
ter with  the  issue  of  the  contest. 


80  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

Congress  the  year  before,  to  Governor  W.  Livingston,  and  had 
told  that  gentleman  he  regarded  it  as  "the  production  of  the 
finest  pen  in  America."  But  this  coming  to  the  ears  of  Mr.  Jay, 
its  author,  he  was  at  some  pains  to  set  Mr.  Jefferson  right  in 
the  matter,  and  to  assert  his  claims  to  the  paternity.  So  far 
as  Mr.  Jefferson  shared  in  this  feeling,  it  had  frequent  and  ample 
cause  of  gratification.  On  the  22nd  of  July,  he  was  placed  on 
a  committee  with  Dr.  Franklin,  Mr.  Adams,  and  Richard  Henry 
Lee,  to  consider  and  report  on  Lord  North's  resolutions:  and  as 
the  answer  of  the  Virginia  Assembly,  of  which  he  was  known 
to  be  the  author,  met  their  views,  he  was  selected  by  the  com- 
mittee to  prepare  the  report. 

The  grounds  taken  in  this  paper  are  nearly  the  same  as  those 
assumed  in  the  answer  of  the  Virginia  Assembly  to  Lord  Dun- 
more.  The  diction,  however,  is  altogether  different,  and  mani- 
festly improved.  This  reply  to  what  the  adherents  of  the  British 
ministry  had  affected  to  style  "the  olive  branch  of  Lord  North," 
was  regarded  in  England  as  the  ultimatum  of  the  American 
Congress.  It  asserts  that  the  colonies  have  the  sole  privilege 
of  granting  or  withholding  their  own  money,  and  that  this  in- 
volves the  right  of  determining  its  amount,  and  of  inquiring  into 
its  application,  lest  it  should  be  wasted  on  the  venal,  or  per- 
verted to  purposes  dangerous  to  themselves:  that  consequently, 
to  propose  to  them  to  surrender  this  right,  is  to  ask  them  to  put 
it  in  the  power  of  Parliament  to  render  their  gifts  ruinous  in 
proportion  as  they  are  liberal:  that  all  history  shows  the  efficacy 
of  this  privilege  of  giving  or  withholding  money  in  checking 
lawless  prerogative,  and  in  obtaining  a  redress  of  grievances: 
they  showed  that  the  propositions  were  insidious,  in  tending  to 
detach  some  of  the  colonies  from  the  rest;  as  well  as  unreason- 
able, in  inviting  them  to  purchase  the  favour  of  Parliament, 
without  telling  them  the  price:  that  while  they  are  offered  per- 
manent relief  from  one  form  of  taxation  only,  by  perpetually 
subjecting  themselves  to  another:  that  the  practice  of  Parlia- 
ment itself,  in  granting  supplies  only  from  year  to  year,  shows 
that  it  does  not  regard  a  perpetual  grant  of  revenue  as  the  best 
security  for  the  good  dispositions  of  those  who  receive  it:  that 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  81 

Government,  by  accompanying  its  propositions  with  fleets  and 
armies,  addresses  itself  to  the  fears  of  the  colonies,  which  course 
is  th  more  unwanantable  from  the  liberality  of  their  former 
contributions  for  the  common  defence.  They  insist  that  they 
cannot  be  justly  required  to  make  other  contributions  while 
Great  Britain  possesses  a  monopoly  of  their  trade.  They  deny 
that  Parliament  had  any  right  to  meddle  with  the  provisions 
which  they  may  choose  to  make  for  their  civil  government,  the 
power  of  the  colonial  legislatures  in  America  being,  for  this  pur- 
pose, co-extensive  with  that  of  the  Parliament  in  Great  Britain. 
They  pronounce  the  proposition  unsatisfactory,  "because  it  im- 
ports only  suspension  of  the  mode,  not  a  renunciation  of  the  pre- 
tended right,"  and  because  it  repeals  none  of  the  oppressive 
statutes,  but,  on  the  contrary,  has  been  followed  by  new  acts 
of  oppression.  They  say  that  the  object  seems  to  have  been  to 
deceive  the  world  into  the  belief  that  the  only  dispute  was  about 
the  mode  of  levying  taxes,  and  that  Parliament  having  conceded 
this  point  to  the  colonies,  they  ought  now  to  be  satisfied;  whereas 
it  was  about  "a  claim  which  would  leave  them  without  any  thing 
they  could  call  property;"  and  that  a  further  object  was  "to 
lull  into  fatal  security  their  fellow  subjects"  in  Great  Britain, 
until  America  was  reduced  to  submission.  Referring  them  to 
some  special  acts  and  avowals  of  the  ministry,  as  proofs  of  its 
settled  hostility,  they  ask  "if  the  world  can  think  them  unrea- 
sonable," or  can  hesitate  to  believe  that  nothing  but  their  own 
exertions  can  defeat  the  ministerial  sentence  of  death  or  abject 
submission." 

Congress,  two  days  afterwards,  prepared  a  second  address  to 
the  inhabitants  of  Great  Britain,  in  a  tone  highly  indignant  and 
expostulatory,  without  being  offensive.  The  second  petition  to 
the  king,  passed  on  the  same  day,  was,  however,  in  a  yet  more 
suppliant  style  than  that  of  the  preceding  year.*  The  fact  that 
Congress  adopted  a  paper  so  little  in  harmony  with  their  feel- 
ings, is  attributed  by  Mr.  Jefferson  to  their  high  respect  for  Mr. 
Dickinson,  who  drew  this  petition  as  well  as  the  firstf 

*  These  two  petitions  have  been  frequently  confounded. 
t  The  circumstance  is  thus  explained  in  his  memoirs:— "Congress  gave 
VOL.  I.— 11 


82  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  the  Convention  of  Virginia.  The  dele- 
gates assembled  at  Richmond  on  the  17th*  of  July,  as  they  had 
agreed  to  do  on  the  24th  of  June,  when  they  separated  as  mem- 
bers of  the  House  of  Burgesses.  Being  now  convinced  that 
conciliation  was  hopeless,  they  proceeded  to  adopt  the  most 
energetic  measures  for  the  public  defence.  They  decided  on 
raising  a  regular  force  of  between  two  and  three  thousand  men, 
and  on  arming  and  training  about  eight  thousand  militia.  They 
resorted  to  every  practicable  expedient  for  procuring  gunpow- 
der, saltpetre,  sulphur,  and  other  military  stores,  and  they  ap- 
pointed a  general  committee  of  safety,  consisting  of  eleven  per- 
sons, who  constituted  the  executive  power  of  the  temporary 
government. 

Amidst  this  busy  preparation  for  resistance,  two  of  their  acts 
deserve  notice,  less  for  their  intrinsic  importance  than  because 
they  afford  evidence  of  the  lofty  spirit  which  actuated  these 
virtuous  patriots,  and  which  showed  that  neither  their  resent- 
ment for  injuries  received,  nor  the  pressure  of  their  necessities, 
could  be  permitted  to  warp  their  pure  and  delicate  sense  of 
right. 

The  occasion  of  the  first  of  these  acts  was  as  follows:  Some 
volunteer  companies  in  Williamsburg  had  informed  the  Conven- 
tion that  they  "had  resolved  to  secure  all  the  public  money  in 
the  hands  of  the  Receiver-General  and  other  collectors  for  his 


a  signal  proof  of  their  indulgence  to  Mr.  Dickinson,  and  of  their  great 
desire  not  to  go  too  fast  for  any  respectable  part  of  our  body,  in  permit- 
ting him  to  draw  their  second  petition  to  the  king  according  to  his  own 
ideas,  and  passing  it  with  scarcely  any  amendment.  The  disgust  against 
its  humility  was  general;  and  Mr.  Dickinson's  delight  at  its  passage  was 
the  only  circumstance  which  reconciled  them  to  it.  The  vote  being 
passed,  although  further  observation  on  it  was  out  of  order,  he  could  not 
refrain  from  rising  and  expressing  his  satisfaction,  and  concluded  by  say- 
ing, "there  is  but  one  word,  Mr.  President,  in  the  paper,  which  I  disap- 
prove, and  that  is  the  word  '  Congress?  "—on  which  Ben  Harrison  rose 
and  said,  "there  is  but  one  word  in  the  paper,  Mr.  President,  of  which  I 
approve,  and  that  is  the  word  '  Congress?  " 

*  Gerardin,  p.  57.  In  the  Life  of  Patrick  Henry  it  is  stated  to  be  the 
24th  of  July.  I  have  aimed  at  accuracy  in  dates,  as  error  in  these  is  some- 
times sufficient  to  transpose  cause  and  effect. 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  83 

majesty,"  and  they  desired  the  opinion  of  the  Convention  on 
the  measure.  Whereupon,  that  body  passed  a  resolution  that 
"the  proceedings  of  these  companies,  though  they  arose  from 
the  best  motives,  could  not  be  approved,"  and  that  they  be  re- 
quired to  desist  from  their  purpose. 

In  the  other  case,  the  Convention,  having  ascertained  that  the 
quantity  of  powder  taken  from  the  public  magazine  by  Lord 
Dunmore  was  less  than  had  been  at  first  supposed,  and  conse- 
quently that  the  sum  which  Mr.  Henry  had  exacted  of  the  Re- 
ceiver-General exceeded  its  value,  resolved,  that  of  the  £330  so 
received,  only  £112  105.  should  be  retained,  and  the  residue 
should  be  returned  to  the  Receiver-General. 

On  the  llth  of  August,  Mr.  Jefferson  was  again  elected  a 
member  of  Congress  for  one  year.  His  colleagues  were  Peyton 
Randolph,  Richard  Henry  Lee,  Benjamin  Harrison,  Thomas 
Nelson,  George  Wythe,  and  Francis  Lightfoot  Lee,  elected  in 
the  place  of  Richard  Bland.  Washington,  Henry,  and  Pendle- 
ton  had  resigned  before  the  Convention  met,  and  Bland  imme- 
diately after  his  re-election.  The  result  of  this  ballot  shows 
how  much  Mr.  Jefferson  had  risen  in  public  estimation.  He 
was  the  third  on  the  list,  and  was  only  three  votes  behind  Mr. 
Lee,  and  four  behind  Mr.  Randolph. 

The  Convention  adjourned  in  September,  and  assembled  at 
Richmond,  for  the  third  time  this  year,  on  the  1st  of  December. 
After  a  few  days  it  again  transferred  its  sittings  to  Williamsburg. 
The  place  of  President  having  become  vacant  by  the  recent 
death  of  Peyton  Randolph,  while  in  Congress,  Edmund  Pendle- 
ton  was  elected  to  that  office,  which  he  held  until  the  5th  of 
July  following,  when,  by  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  the 
functions  of  the  Convention  ceased. 

Although  it  must  have  occurred  to  every  reflecting  mind  that 
the  time  would  come  when  the  British  provinces  on  this  conti- 
nent would  attain  a  point  of  population  which  would  be  incon- 
sistent with  a  state  of  colonial  dependence,  yet  that  period  was 
regarded  by  all  as  very  distant.  Nor  did  those  who  were  most 
likely  to  wish  a  separation,  dream  that  the  time  was  already 
come  when  the  colonies  were  sufficiently  strong  to  resist  the 


84  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

mighty  power  of  the  mother  country,  even  if  the  people  could 
be  brought  to  desire  it.  Convinced  of  this  fact,  the  efforts  of 
the  colonists,  for  the  present,  aimed  solely  to  prevent  the  fur- 
ther extension  of  British  power  over  them,  both  on  account  of 
its  present  inconveniences,  and  for  fear  of  its  impeding  or  frus- 
trating their  future  independence. 

While  this  intermediate  period  was  passing,  they  were  con- 
tent that  their  accustomed  connexion  with  Great  Britain  should 
continue,  and  they  considered  themselves  compensated  for  the 
restrictions  on  their  foreign  commerce  by  the  powerful  protec- 
tion afforded  by  the  British  navy;  and  under  the  belief  that  they 
were  neither  strong  enough  to  assert  their  independence  against 
the  power  of  the  parent  state,  nor  to  maintain  it  afterwards, 
they,  so  far  from  wishing  to  widen  the  breach  between  the  two 
countries,  exerted  themselves  to  bring  about  a  reconciliation  on 
the  terms  that  they  thought  not  derogatory  to  a  free  people. 
Such  were  Mr.  Jefferson's  sentiments.  Though  few  of  his  coun- 
trymen seem  to  have  taken  such  liberal  views  of  the  claims  of 
the  colonies,  or  to  have  formed  with  more  jealousy  and  distrust  a 
standard  of  the  power  to  which  they  could  safely  submit,  yet 
he  appears  to  have  sincerely  wished  to  preserve  the  former 
connexions  between  England  and  America,  upon  what  he  con- 
ceived to  be  its  proper  principles.  Some  of  his  correspondence, 
lately  published,  affords  satisfactory  evidence  of  this  fact. 

Thus,  in  a  letter  to  his  former  tutor  and  friend,  Dr.  Small, 
then  residing  in  Scotland,  his  native  country,  on  the  subjects  of 
the  public  discontents,  and  immediately  after  the  battle  of 
Bunker  Hill,  he  says: 

"When  I  saw  Lord  Chatham's  bill,  I  entertained  high  hope 
that  a  reconciliation  could  have  been  brought  about.  The  dif- 
ference between  his  terms  and  those  offered  by  Congress,  might 
have  been  accommodated,  if  entered  on,  by  both  parties,  with 
a  disposition  to  accommodate.  But  the  dignity  of  Parliament, 
it  seems,  can  brook  no  opposition."  And  in  a  letter,  dated  Au- 
gust 25th,  of  the  same  year,  to  John  Randolph,  who  was  then 
Attorney-General,  and  who,  taking  sides  with  the  government, 
was  about  to  leave  Virginia  for  England,  he  says:— "There  may 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  85 

be  people  to  whose  tempers  contention  is  pleasing,  and  who, 
therefore,  wish  a  continuance  of  confusion,  but  to  me  it  is,  of 
all  states  but  one,  the  most  horrid.  My  first  wish  is  for  a  re- 
storation of  our  just  rights;  rny  second,  a  return  of  the  happy 
period  when,  consistently  with  duty,  I  may  withdraw  myself 
from  the  public  stage,  and  pass  the  rest  of  my  days  in  domestic 
ease  and  tranquillity,  banishing  every  desire  of  hearing  what 
passes  in  the  world.  Perhaps,  (for  the  latter  adds  considerably 
to  the  former  wish,)  looking  with  fondness  towards  a  reconcilia- 
tion with  Great  Britain,  I  cannot  help  hoping  you  may  contribute 
towards  expediting  this  good  work."  He  further  remarks,  "I 
would  rather  be  in  dependence  on  Great  Britain,  properly  limit- 
ed, than  on  any  nation  upon  earth,  or  than  on  no  nation.  But  I  am 
one  of  those  too,  who,  rather  than  submit  to  the  rights  of  legis- 
lating for  us,  assumed  by  the  British  Parliament,  and  which  late 
experience  has  shown  they  will  so  cruelly  exercise,  would  lend 
my  hand  to  sink  the  whole  island  in  the  ocean."  And  in  a  sub- 
sequent letter  to  the  same  gentleman,  dated  November  29th, 
1775,  after  intimating  that  the  colonies  were  on  the  eve  of  se- 
paration, he  remarks:  "Believe  me,  dear  sir,  there  is  not  in  the 
British  empire,  a  man  who  more  cordially  loves  a  union  with 
Great  Britain  than  I  do.  But,  by  the  God  that  made  me,  I  will 
cease  to  exist  before  I  yield  to  a  connexion  on  such  terms  as 
the  British  Parliament  propose;  and  in  this,  I  think,  I  speak  the 
sentiments  of  America.  We  want  neither  inducement  nor  power 
to  declare  and  assert  a  separation.  It  is  will  alone  which  is  want- 
ing, and  that  is  growing  apace  under  the  fostering  hand  of  our 
king."  It  is  impossible  to  doubt  the  sincerity  of  these  declara- 
tions, accompanied,  as  they  were,  with  frank  expressions  of  re- 
sentment for  alleged  wrong,  and  avowals  of  intended  resistance, 
uttered  to  those  whose  sentiments  on  these  points  differed  from 
his  own.* 

*  This  view  of  the  state  of  public  sentiment  at  this  time  in  America,  is 
confirmed  by  the  high  testimony  of  the  late  Mr.  Jay,  in  a  letter  from  him 
to  Mr.  Otis,  the  translator  of  Botta,  who,  substituting  a  train  of  probable 
speculation  for  facts,  had  stated  that  the  colonists  wished  for  indepen- 
dence long  before  the  revolution.— Jay's  Life,  vol.  ii.  410. 


86  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

From  the  time  of  the  battle  of  Lexington,  in  April,  J775,  the 
public  mind  throughout  America  had  been  preparing  for  a  sepa- 
ration; and,  in  Virginia,  the  course  pursued  by  Lord  Dunmore 
had  for  some  time  kept  the  people  in  a  state  of  feverish  agita- 
tion, which,  provoked  without  intimidating,  and  by  a  succession 
of  indecisive  skirmishes,  familiarized  their  minds  to  scenes  of 
war,  and  greatly  increased  their  confidence  in  their  own  cour- 
age and  military  resources. 

The  Convention  met  for  the  fifth  and  the  last  time  in  Wil- 
liamsburg  on  the  6th,  of  May,  and  on  the  15th  of  May,  1776,  it 
took  the  bold  and  decisive  step  of  instructing  their  delegates  in 
Congress,  to  propose  to  that  body,  to  declare  the  colonies  inde- 
pendent of  Great  Britain;  and  the  Convention  itself  immediately 
set  about  a  declaration  of  rights,  and  a  new  Constitution  for 
Virginia.  In  obedience  to  these  instructions,  on  Friday,  the  7th 
of  June,  Richard  Henry  Lee,  by  the  request  of  his  colleagues, 
moved  that  the  Congress  should  declare,  "that  these  United  Colo- 
nies are,  and  of  right  ought  to  be,  free  and  independent  states;  that 
they  are  absolved  from  all  allegiance  to  the  British  crown;  and  that 
all  political  connexion  between  them  and  the  state  of  Great  Britain 
is,  and  ought  to  be,  totally  dissolved;  that  measures  should  immedi- 
ately be  taken  for  procuring  the  assistance  of  foreign  powers,  and  a 
confederation  be  formed  to  bind  the  Colonies  more  closely  together.1" 

The  consideration  of  the  subject  being  postponed  to  the  next 
day,  it  was  then  taken  up,  and  debated  oni  that  day,  Saturday, 
and  the  following  Monday,  by  Messrs.  J.  Adams,  Richard  H. 
Lee,  Wythe,  and  some  others,  in  favour  of  the  proposition;  and 
by  Messrs.  Wilson,  Robert  R.  Livingston,  Edward  Rutledge, 
Dickinson,  and  others,  against  it;  whose  objections,  however, 
went  rather  to  the  time  than  to  the  measure  itself.  As  six  of 
the  colonies,  to  wit:  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Dela- 
ware, Maryland  and  South  Carolina,  were  not  yet  prepared  for 
this  bold  step,  it  was  thought  prudent  to  delay  a  decision  for  a 
short  time,  the  1st  of  July;  but,  meanwhile,  to  prevent  unneces- 
sary delay,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  prepare,  by  way  of 
manifesto,  a  Declaration  of  Independence. 

This  committee  consisted  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  John  Adams, 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  87 

of  Massachusetts,  Dr.  Franklin,  of  Pennsylvania,  Roger  Sher- 
man, of  Connecticut,  and  Robert  R.  Livingston,  of  New  York. 
The  committee  being,  as  usual,  appointed  bv  ballot,  and  Mr. 
Jefferson  having  received  the  highest  number  of  votes,  was 
selected  by  the  other  members  to  make  the  draught.  He  ac- 
cordingly undertook  it;*  and  thus  became  the  author  of  the  most 
memorable  public  document  which  history  records — one  with 
which  his  name  has  become  so  intimately  associated,  that  it 
would  alone  be  sufficient  to  keep  that  name  fresh  in  the  recol- 
lections of  his  countrymen  to  the  latest  posterity. 

Before  the  original  draught  was  submitted  to  the  whole  com- 
mittee, it  was  shown,  by  its  author,  to  Dr.  Franklin  and  Mr. 
Adams,  both  of  whom  contented  themselves  with  two  or  three 
verbal  alterations.! 

The  committee  having  reported  the  declaration  on  the  28th 
of  June,  it  was  read,  and  ordered  to  lie  on  the  table.  On  Mon- 
day, the  1st  of  July,  the  subject  was  taken  up,  was  discussed 
in  the  committee  of  the  whole,  and  carried  in  the  committee,  on 
the  same  day,  by  the  votes  of  nine  states.  Pennsylvania  and  South 
Carolina  voted  against  it.  Delaware  was  divided,  and  the  dele- 
gates from  New  York  having  been  chosen,  when  reconciliation 
was  the  general  wish  of  their  constituents,  and  been  therefore 
enjoined  to  do  nothing  to  impede  that  object,  asked  leave  to 
withdraw. 

On  the  resolution  being  reported  by  the  committee  to  the 
house,  the  delegates  from  South  Carolina  requested  a  postpone- 
ment of  the  question  to  the  next  day,  as,  though  disapproving 
the  resolution,  they  might  then  vote  for  it,  for  the  sake  of 
unanimity.  This  was  done,  and,  on  the  following  day,  South 

*  Mr.  Lee  would,  no  doubt,  have  been  placed  on  this  committee;  and, 
according  to  the  established  usage  towards  the  mover  of  a  resolution, 
have  been  its  chairman,  had  he  not  obtained  leave  of  absence  that  day, 
in  consequence  of  having  received  intelligence,  by  express,  of  the  dan- 
gerous illness  of  some  member  of  his  family  in  Virginia. 

t  Mr.  Adams's  recollections,  as  stated  to  Mr.  Pickering,  in  his  letter 
of  August  2,  1822,  differ  somewhat  from  Mr.  Jefferson's,  which  I  have 
followed.  See  Jeff".  Corr.  IV.  p.  375. 


88  THE  *IFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

Carolina  concurred  with  the  majority,  as  also  did  Delaware,  by 
the  arrival  of  a  third  delegate,  who  voted  in  favour  of  the  reso- 
lution. The  vote  of  Pennsylvania  was  also  changed,  by  a 
change  in  her  delegates  that  morning;  and  thus,  twelve  states 
voted  in  favour  of  the  resolution  on  the  2nd  of  July,  and  on  the 
9th,  the  approbation  of  the  Convention  of  New  York  completed 
the  consent  of  the  thirteen  states. 

On  the  same  day,  the  2nd  of  July,  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, which  had  been  reported  on  the  28th  of  June,  and 
referred  to  the  committee  of  the  whole  on  the  1st  of  July,  was 
considered,  and  either  from  motives  of  policy,  or  a  disposition 
not  to  offend  the  friends  of  America  in  England,  those  passages 
were  struck  out  which  conveyed  censures  on  the  people  of  that 
country.  The  clause  too  reprobating  the  slave  trade  was  struck 
out  in  complaisance  to  South  Carolina  and  Georgia.  The  pass- 
ages erased  amount  altogether  to  something  less  than  one- 
third  of  the  original  draught.  There  were  also  some  slight 
alterations  in  the  parts  retained.*  The  debate  was  continued 

*  It  was  during  this  debate,  that  Dr.  Franklin,  sitting  beside  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson, and,  observing  him  "writhing  a  little  under  the  acrimonious  criti- 
cisms on  some  of  its  parts,"  told  him,  byway  of  comfort,  the  story  of  John 
Thomson,  the  hatter,  which  is  too  characteristical  of  Franklin's  love  of 
apologue,  as  well  as  of  his  success  in  that  way,  to  be  omitted.  "When  he 
•was  a  young  man,  he  said  a  friend  of  his,  who  was  about  to  set  up  in  busi- 
ness for  himself,  as  a  hatter,  consulted  his  acquaintances  on  the  important 
subject  of  his  sign."  The  one  he  had  proposed  to  himself  was  this:  "John 
Thomson,  hatter,  makes  and  sells  hats  for  ready  money,"  with  the  sign 
of  a  hat.  The  first  friend  whose  advice  he  asked,  suggested  that  the  word 
"hatter"  was  entirely  superfluous,  to  which  he  readily  agreeing,  it  was 
struck  out.  The  next  remarked,  that  it  was  unnecessary  to  mention  that 
he  required  "ready  money"  for  his  hats— few  persons  wishing  credit  for 
an  article  of  no  more  cost  than  a  hat,  or  if  they  did,  he  might  sometimes 
find  it  advisable  to  give  it.  These  words  were  accordingly  struck  out; 
and  the  sign  then  stood,  "John  Thomson  makes  and  sells  hats."  A  third 
friend  who  was  consulted,  observed,  that  when  a  man  looked  to  buy  a  hat, 
he  did  not  care  who  made  it;  on  which,  two  more  words  were  stricken  out. 
On  showing  to  another  the  sign  thus  abridged  to  "John  Thomson  sells 
hats;"  he  exclaimed,  "why  who  the  devil  will  expect  you  to  give  them 
away?"  On  which  cogent  criticism,  two  more  words  were  expunged;  and 
nothing  of  the  original  sign  was  left  but  "John  Thomson,"  with  the  sign 
of  the  hat. 


THE  LIPS  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  89 

through  the  2nd,  3d  and  4th  of  July,  and  on  the  evening  of  the 
last  day,  was  reported  by  the  committee  of  the  whole,  agreed 
to  by  the  house,  and  signed  by  every  member  present,  except 
Mr.  Dickinson.  Of  the  Pennsylvania  delegation,  consisting  of 
seven  members,  only  three  had  signed,  Dr.  Franklin,  John  Mor- 
ton, and  James  Wilson;  Robert  Morris  was  accidentally  absent; 
Willing  and  Humphreys  had  withdrawn,  and  Dickinson  refused 
to  sign.  The  Convention  of  Pennsylvania,  then  in  session  in 
Philadelphia,  therefore,  on  the  20th  of  July,  appointed  a  new 
delegation,  consisting  of  the  three  members  who  had  signed,  of 
Morris,  and  five  new  members,  to  wit:  Rush,  Clymer,  Smith, 
Taylor,  and  Ross,  all  of  whom  were  permitted  to  sign.  The 
delegates  from  New  York,  on  the  9th,  received  authority  from 
their  Convention  to  sign,  and  they  signed  on  the  15th. 

Dr.  Thornton,  of  New  Hampshire,  who  had  been  appointed 
in  September,  in  the  room  of  John  Langdon,  did  not  take  his 
seat  until  the  4th  of  November,  when  he  also  was  permitted  to 
sign. 

In  the  accounts  which  have  been  published  of  this  memo- 
rable act,  there  has  been  some  slight  discordance,  occasioned, 
probably  by  confounding  the  proceedings  on  the  resolution 
offered  by  Virginia  with  those  which  took  place  on  adopting 
the  Declaration,  and  also  by  the  circumstance  that  the  first 
signatures  were  made  to  the  paper  on  the  4th  of  July,  but  after 
it  was  engrossed  on  parchment,  it  was  again  signed  by  most  of 
the  members  on  the  2nd  of  August,  and,  at  different  intervals 
afterwards,  by  the  rest. 

Mr.  Jefferson's  attention  was  called  to  these  discrepancies  by 
Samuel  A.  Wells,  Esq.,  of  Boston,  in  1819,  and  he  there  gives 
the  particulars,  agreeing  with  the  foregoing  statement.  His 
account  seems  entitled  to  all  credit;  first,  because  he  took  notes 
of  what  was  passing  at  the  time,  which  those,  whose  accounts 
differ  from  his,  do  not  appear  to  have  done;  secondly,  because, 
having  been  the  draughtsman  of  the  Declaration,  he  was  likely 
to  have  given  it  a  closer  attention  than  any  one  else;  and  lastly, 
from  his  general  habits  of  accuracy,  and  his  satisfactory  expla- 
nations of  the  errors  of  others. 
VOL.  L— 12 


90  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

On  the  merits  of  this  paper  it  is  not  necessary  to  dilate.  It  is 
consecrated  in  the  affections  of  Americans,  and  praise  may  seem 
as  superfluous  as  censure  would  be  unavailing.  Yet,  as  it  has  been 
sometimes  criticised,  it  may  be  remarked,  that  it  seems  entitled 
to  every  merit  which  such  a  paper  could  well  possess.  It  ap- 
peals to  the  sympathies  of  mankind,  but  is  still  more  addressed 
to  their  understandings.  Had  it  been  more  argumentative,  it 
would  have  shown  a  want  of  confidence  in  the  justice  of  its 
cause.  Had  it  been  less  so,  it  would  have  been  inconsistent 
with  the  respect  it  professed  for  the  opinions  of  the  world.  A 
loftier  strain  of  eloquence  would  have  accorded  neither  with 
the  solemnity  of  the  occasion,  nor  the  grave  and  sober  charac- 
ter of  the  American  people,  who  acted  not  under  the  sudden 
impulse  of  feeling,  hut  from  the  deliberate  conviction  of  reason. 
The  language  too  is  suited  to  this  tone  of  manly  dignity.  It  is 
sufficiently  elevated  without  being  declamatory,  and  familiar, 
without  being  low.  It  has  been  said  to  want  condensation;  but 
greater  brevity  might  have  given  it  an  air  of  flippancy  and 
affectation  on  the  one  hand,  or  of  languor  and  coldness  on  the 
other.  True  eloquence  sometimes  amplifies,  and  sometimes 
compresses.  Upon  the  whole,  we  may  say,  after  a  close  but 
candid  examination  of  this  paper,  that  it  well  deserves  the 
commendations  it  has  so  generally  received,  and  that  it  may 
claim  no  mean  praise  for  the  seductive  faults  it  avoids,  as  well 
as  the  beauties  it  contains.* 

From  this  time,  Mr.  Jefferson  ranked  among  the  foremost  of 
the  American  statesmen.  He  was  placed  on  the  most  impor- 
tant committees,  and  his  pen  was  called  upon,  as  indeed  it  had 
been  the  year  before,f  to  discharge  some  of  the  ministerial,  as 
well  as  legislative  functions  of  Congress. 

While  Mr.  Jefferson  was  thus  engaged  in  the  great  concerns 
of  the  confederacy,  he  was  not  unmindful  of  what  was  passing 
in  Virginia.  Knowing  that  they  were  engaged  in  framing  a 
Constitution  for  the  state,  he  prepared  the  draught  of  one,  with 

*  See  Appendix  B.  f  See  Appendix  C. 


THE   LIFE   OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSOX.  91 

a  preamble  reciting  the  grievances  of  the  colonies  and  the  acts 
of  misrule  in  the  King  and  Parliament,  which  he  transmitted  to 
his  friend  Mr.  Wythe.  But  the  Constitution  proposed  by  George 
Mason*  had  been  adopted,  in  committee,  before  Mr.  Jefferson's 
arrived,  and  was  afterwards,  with  little  alteration,  adopted  by 
the  house.  They,  however,  accepted  Mr.  Jefferson's  preamble, 
which  is  nearly  the  same  as  the  recital  of  wrongs  in  the  Decla- 
ration of  Independence. 

The  Convention,  on  the  12th  of  June,  adopted  a  Declaration 
of  Rights,  and  on  the  29th,  a  Constitution,  the  first  in  any  of  the 
states,  which  was  framed  with  a  view  to  a  permanent  separa- 
tion from  Great  Britain,  since  that  of  South  Carolina  and 
New  Hampshire,  which  alone  preceded  it,  was  to  continue 
only  until  a  reconciliation  took  place  between  the  mother 
country  and  the  colonies. 

Before  their  adjournment,  on  the  5th  of  July,  they  had  re- 
elected  Mr.  Jefferson  to  Congress  for  another  term,  although  he 
had  intimated  a  wish  to  retire.  As  soon  as  he  was  informed  of 
his  re-election,  he  wrote  to  the  President  of  the  Convention, 
that  "the  situation  of  his  domestic  affairs  rendered  it  indispen- 
sably necessary  that  he  should  solicit  the  substitution  of  some 
other  person  in  his  room."  He  says,  that  he  had  a  further 
inducement  to  this  step,  in  his  wish  to  assist  in  reforming  the 
municipal  code  of  Virginia,  under  the  new  Constitution.  He 
accordingly  withdrew  from  Congress  on  the  2nd  of  September, 
returned  to  Virginia,  and,  in  October,  sent  in  a  formal  resigna- 
tion. Mr.  Harrison  was  appointed  his  successor. 

On  the  30th  of  September,  Congress  gave  him  a  distinguished 
mark  of  their  confidence  and  esteem  by  appointing  him  a  joint 

*  Of  this  gentleman,  Mr.  Jefferson  gives  the  following  forcible,  and,  as 
it  is  believed,  just  sketch.  He  was  "of  the  first  order  of  wisdom  among 
those  who  acted  on  the  theatre  of  the  Revolution,  of  expansive  mind, 
profound  judgment,  cogent  in  argument,  learned  in  the  lore  of  our  for- 
mer Constitution,  and  earnest  for  the  republican  change  on  democratic 
principles.  His  elocution  was  neither  flowing  nor  smooth;  but  his  lan- 
guage was  strong,  his  manner  most  impressive,  and  strengthed  by  a  dash 
of  biting  criticism,  where  provocation  made  it  seasonable."—!  Jeff.  Mem. 
p.  33. 


92  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

commissioner  or  envoy  to  France,  with  Dr.  Franklin  and  Silas 
Deane;  and  it  seems  probable,  that  this  appointment  would 
have  induced  him  to  forego  his  schemes  of  legislative  reform,  if 
the  situation  of  Mrs.  Jefferson  had  not  been  such,  that  his  affec- 
tion would  not  permit  him  either  to  take  her  with  him,  or  to 
leave  her  behind. 

The  Legislature  of  his  native  state,  to  which  he  had  been  elect- 
ed, in  his  absence,  for  the  county  of  Albemarle,  afforded  an  am- 
ple field  for  his  talents,  industry,  and  devotion  to  liberal  princi- 
ples. Much  was  to  be  done  to  adapt  the  laws  to  the  forms  and  the 
spirit  of  the  new  government;  and  many  changes  for  the  better 
would  present  themselves  to  one,  who,  like  Mr.  Jefferson,  was 
familiar  with  the  existing  code,  who  felt  an  ardent  zeal  for  im- 
provement, and  whose  mind  was  enlarged  by  philosophy.  He 
accordingly  took  the  lead  in  the  work  of  reformation. 

On  the  llth  of  October,  three  days  after  he  had  taken  his 
seat,  he  brought  in  a  bill  for  the  establishment  of  Courts  of  Jus- 
tice, which  was  subsequently  approved  by  the  house,  and  passed. 
Three  days  afterwards,  he  introduced  a  bill  to  convert  estates 
in  tail  into  fee  simple.  This  he  avows  was  a  blow  at  the  aris- 
tocracy of  Virginia. 

In  that  colony,  in  the  earlier  periods  of  its  history,  large 
grants  of  land  had  been  obtained  from  the  crown  by  a  few 
favoured  individuals,  which  had  been  preserved  in  their  fami- 
lies by  means  of  entails,  so  as  to  have  formed  by  degrees  a  patri- 
cian class  among  the  colonists.  These  modes  of  continuing  the 
same  estates  in  the  same  family  found  a  protection  here  which 
they  could  not  obtain  in  the  mother  country;  for,  by  an  act  passed 
in  the  year  1705,  the  practice  of  docking  entails,  which  had 
previously  prevailed  in  Virginia,  as  in  England,  was  expressly 
prohibited;  and  whenever  the  peculiar  exigencies  of  a  family 
made  it  necessary  that  this  restraint  on  alienation  should  be 
done  away,  it  could  be  effected  only  by  a  special  act  of  Assem- 
bly. 

The  class  which  thus  provided  for  the  perpetuation  of  its 
wealth,  also  monopolized  the  civil  honours  of  the  colony.  The 
counsellors  of  the  state  were  selected  from  it,  by  reason  of 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  93 

which  the  whole  body  commonly  had  a  strong  bias  in  favour  of 
the  crown,  in  all  questions  between  popular  right  and  regal  pre- 
rogative. It  is  but  an  act  of  justice  to  this  class  to  state,  that 
although  some  of  them  rru'ght  have  been  timid  and  hesitating 
in  the  dispute  with  the  mother  country — disposed  to  drain  the 
cup  of  conciliation  to  the  dregs — yet,  others  were  among  the 
foremost  in  patriotic  self-devotion  and  generous  sacrifices;  and 
there  was  but  a  small  proportion  of  them  who  were  actually 
tories,  as  those  who  sided  with  Great  Britain  were  then  denomi- 
nated. 

Mr.  Jefferson  was  probably  influenced  less  by  a  regard  to  the 
conduct  of  the  wealthy  families  in  the  contest,  than  by  the 
general  reason  which  he  thus  gives:  "to  annul  this  privilege, 
and,  instead  of  an  aristocracy  of  wealth,  of  more  harm  and  dan- 
ger than  benefit  to  society,  to  make  an  opening  for  the  aris- 
tocracy of  virtue  and  talent,  which  nature  has  wisely  provided 
for  the  direction  of  the  interests  of  society,  and  scattered  with 
equal  hand  through  all  its  conditions,  was  deemed  essential  to  a 
well  ordered  republic." 

The  repeal  of  this  law  was  affected  not  without  a  struggle. 
It  was  opposed  by  Mr.  Pendleton,  who,  both  from  age  and  tem- 
per, was  cautious  of  innovation;  and  who,  finding  some  change 
inevitable,  proposed  to  modify  the  law  so  far,  as  to  give  to  the 
tenant  in  tail  the  power  of  conveying  in  fee  simple.  This  would 
have  left  the  entail  in  force,  where  the  power  of  abolishing  it 
was  not  exercised;  and  he  was,  within  a  few  votes,  of  saving  so 
much  of  the  old  law. 

This  law,  and  another  subsequently  introduced  by  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson, to  abolish  the  preference  given  to  the  male  sex,  and  to 
the  first  born,  under  the  English  common  law,  have  effectually 
answered  their  intended  purpose  of  destroying  the  gross  in- 
equality of  fortunes  which  formerly  prevailed  in  Virginia.  They 
have  not  merely  altered  the  distribution  of  that  part  of  the 
landed  property,  which  is  transmitted  to  surviving  relatives  by 
the  silent  operation  of  law,  but  they  have  also  operated  on  pub- 
lic opinion,  so  as  to  influence  the  testamentary  disposition  of  it 
by  the  proprietors,  without  which  last  effect  the  purpose  of  the 


94  THE   LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

Legislature  might  have  been  readily  defeated.  The  cases  are 
now  very  rare,  in  which  a  parent  makes,  by  his  will,  a  much 
more  unequal  distribution  of  his  property  among  his  children 
than  the  law  itself»would  make.  It  is  thus  that  laws,  themselves 
the  creatures  of  public  opinion,  often  powerfully  react  on  it. 

The  effects  of  this  change  in  the  distribution  of  property  are 
very  visible.  There  is  no  longer  a  class  of  persons  possessed  of 
large  inherited  estates,  who,  in  a  luxurious  and  ostentatious 
style  of  living,  greatly  exceed  the  rest  of  the  community;  a 
much  larger  number  of  those  who  are  wealthy  have  acquired 
their  estates  by  their  own  talents  or  enterprise;  and  most  of 
these  last,  are  commonly  content  with  reaching  the  average  of 
that  more  moderate  standard  of  expense  which  public  opinion 
requires,  rather  than  the  higher  scale  which  it  tolerates. 

Thus,  there  were  formerly  many  in  Virginia  who  drove  a 
coach  and  six,  and  now  such  an  equipage  is  never  seen.  There 
were  probably  twice  or  three  times  as  many  four  horse  carriages 
before  the  revolution  as  there  are  at  present;  but  the  number 
of  two  horse  carriages  may  be  now  ten,  or  even  twenty  times  as 
great  as  at  the  former  period.  A  few  families  too  could  boast 
of  more  plate  than  can  now  be  met  with;  but  the  whole  quan- 
tity in  the  country  has  increased  twenty,  if  not  fifty  fold. 

Some  nice  but  querulous  observers  have  thought  that  they 
perceived  a  correspondent  chaqge  in  the  manners  and  intellec- 
tual cultivation  of  the  two  periods;  and  while  they  ad»it,  that 
the  mass  of  the  people  may  be  now  less  gross,  and  more  intel- 
ligent than  the  backwoodsman,  the  tobacco  roller,*  or  the 
rustic  population  generally,  under  the  regal  government,  yet 
they  insist,  that  we  now  have  no  such  class  as  that  which  for- 
merly constituted  the  Virginia  gentleman,  of  chivalrous  honour, 

*  The  tobacco  was  formerly  not  transported  in  wagons,  as  at  present, 
but  by  a  much  simpler  process.  The  hogshead,  in  which  it  was  packed, 
had  a  wooden  pin  driven  into  each  head,  to  which  were  adjusted  a  pair  of 
rude  shafts,  and  thus,  in  the  way  of  a  garden  roller,  it  was  drawn  to 
market  by  horses.  Those  who  followed  this  business  of  tobacco-rolling1, 
formed  a  class  by  themselves — hardy,  reckless,  proverbially  rude,  and 
often  indulging  in  coarse  humour,  at  the  expense  of  the  traveller,  who 
chanced  to  be  well  dressed,  or  riding  in  a  carriage. 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  95 

and  polished  manners — at  once,  high-minded,  liberal,  delicate  and 
munificent;  and  that,  as  to  mental  cultivation,  our  best  educated 
men,  of  the  present  day,  cannot  compare  with  the  Lees,  the 
Randolphs,  the  Jeffersons,  Pendletons  and  Wythes,  of  that  period. 

This  comparison,  however,  cannot  easily  be  made  with  fair- 
ness; for  there  are  few  who  have  lived  long  enough  to  compare 
the  two  periods,  and  those  few  are  liable  to  be  biassed  on  one 
side  or  the  other,  according  to  their  early  predilections  and 
peculiar  tastes.  But  apart  from  these  individual  influence?, 
there  is  a  general  one  to  which  we  are  all  exposed.  Time 
throws  a  mellow  light  over  our  recollections  of  the  past,  by 
which  their  beauties  acquire  a  more  touching  softness,  and  their 
harsher  parts  are  thrown  into  shade.  Who  that  consults  his 
reason  can  believe,  if  those  scenes  of  his  early  days,  to  which 
he  most  fondly  looks  back,  were  again  placed  before  him,  that 
he  would  again  see  them,  such  as  memory  depicts  them?  His 
more  discriminating  eye,  and  his  less  excitable  sensibility,  would 
now  see  faults  which  then  escaped  his  inexperience,  and  he 
would  look  tranquilly,  if  not  with  indifference,  on  what  had 
once  produced  an  intoxication  of  delight.  Yet,  such  is  the  com- 
parison which  everyone  must  make  between  the  men  and  things 
of  his  early  and  his  later  life;  and  the  traditionary  accounts  of 
a  yet  earlier  period  are  liable  to  the  same  objection,  for  they 
all  originate  with  those  who  describe  what  they  remember, 
rather  than  what  they  actually  observed.  We  must,  therefore, 
make  a  liberal  allowance  for  this  common  illusion,  when  we 
are  told  of  the  superior  virtues  and  accomplishments  of  our 
ancestors. 

The  intellectual  comparison  may  be  more  satisfactorily  made. 
While  it  is  admitted,  that  Virginia  could,  at  the  breaking  out  of 
the  Revolution,  boast  of  men  that  would  hold  a  respectable 
rank  in  any  society;  yet,  after  making  allowance  for  the  spirit- 
stirring  occasion  which  then  called  forth  all  their  talents  and 
faculties,  there  seems  to  be  no  reason  to  suppose  that  there  is 
any  inferiority  in  the  present  generation.  It  must  be  recollected, 
that  by  the  more  general  diffusion  of  the  benefits  of  education, 
and  the  continued  advancement  of  mental  culture,  we  have  a 


96  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

higher  standard  of  excellence  in  the  present  day  than  formerly; 
and  in  the  progressive  improvement  which  our  country  has 
experienced  in  this  particular,  the  intellectual  efforts  which,  in 
one  country  confer  distinction,  would,  in  that  which  succeeds 
it,  scarcely  attract  notice.  It  may  be  safely  said,  that  a  well 
written  newspaper  essay  would  have  then  conferred  celebrity 
on  its  author,  and  a  pamphlet  would  have  been  regarded  as 
great  an  achievement  in  letters  as  an  octavo  volume  at  present. 
Nor  does  there  pass  any  session  of  the  Legislature,  without  call- 
ing forth  reports  and  speeches,  which  exhibit  a  degree  of  ability 
and  political  information,  that  would,  forty  years  ago,  have  made 
the  author's  name  reverberate  from  one  end  of  British  America 
to  the  other.  The  supposed  effects  of  this  change  in  the  dis- 
tribution of  property,  in  deteriorating  manners,  and  lowering 
the  standard  of  intellectual  merit,  may  then  well  be  called  in 
question. 

Another  law,  materially  affecting  the  polity  of  the  state,  and 
the  condition  of  society,  owes  its  origin,  in  part,  to  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son. This  was  the  act  to  abolish  the  church  establishment,  and 
to  put  all  religious  sects  on  a  footing.  The  means  of  effecting 
this  change  were  very  simple.  They  were  merely  to  declare, 
that  no  man  should  be  compelled  to  support  any  preacher,  but 
should  be  free  to  choose  his  sect,  and  to  regulate  his  contribu- 
tion for  the  support  of  that  sect,  at  pleasure. 

From  the  first  settlement  of  Virginia,  the  Church  of  England 
had  been  established  in  the  colonies.  The  inhabited  parts  were 
laid  off  into  parishes,  in  each  of  which  was  a  minister,  who  had 
a  fixed  salary,  in  tobacco,  together  with  a  glebe  and  parsonage 
house.  There  was  a  general  assessment  on  all  the  inhabitants, 
to  meet  the  expenses.  Mr.  Jefferson  thus  explains  the  success 
of  rival  sects:  "In  process  of  time,  however,  other  sectarisms 
were  introduced,  chiefly  of  the  Presbyterian  family;  and  the 
established  clergy,  secure  for  life  in  their  glebes  and  salaries, 
adding  to  these  generally  the  emoluments  of  a  classical  school, 
found  employment  enough  in  their  farms  and  school  rooms  for 
the  rest  of  the  week,  and  devoted  Sunday  only  to  the  edification 
of  their  flock,  by  service,  and  a  sermon  at  their  parish  church. 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  97 

Their  other  pastoral  functions  were  little  attended  to.  Against 
this  inactivity,  the  zeal  and  industry  of  sectarian  preachers  had 
an  open  and  undisputed  field;  and  by  the  time  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, a  majority*  of  the  inhabitants  had  become  dissenters  from 
the  established  church,  but  were  still  obliged  to  pay  contribu- 
tions to  support  the  pastors  of  the  minority.  This  unrighteous 
compulsion,  to  maintain  teachers  of  what  they  deemed  religious 
errors,  was  grievously  felt  during  the  regal  government,  and 
without  a  hope  of  relief." 

The  successive  steps  by  which  an  institution  which  was  deeply 
rooted  in  the  affections  of  many  of  the  principal  citizens,  was 
deprived  of  its  power  and  property,  without  disturbing  the  pub- 
lic tranquillity,  may  be  not  unworthy  of  notice. 

In  the  bill  of  rights  which  was  drawn  by  George  Mason,  June 
12, 1776,  the  principle  of  religious  freedom  is  distinctly  asserted 
in  the  last  article,  which  declares,  "that  religion,  or  the  duty 
which  we  owe  to  our  Creator,  and  the  manner  of  discharging 
it,  can  be  directed  only  by  reason  and  conviction,  not  by  force 
or  violence;  and,  therefore,  all  men  are  equally  entitled  to  the 
free  exercise  of  religion,  according  to  the  dictates  of  conscience." 
But  the  Constitution  itself,  passed  June  29th,  is  silent  on  the 
subject  of  religion,  except  that  it  renders  "all  ministers  of  the 
gospel"  incapable  of  being  members  of  either  house  of  Assem- 
bly, or  of  the  Executive  Council. 

At  the  first  session  of  the  Legislature,  in  the  same  year,  under 
the  new  Constitution,  numerous  petitions  were  received  for 
abolishing  the  general  assessment  for  the  established  church; 
and,  at  this  session,  Mr.  Jefferson  draughted  and  supported  a 
law  for  the  relief  of  the  dissenters,  which,  he  says,  brought  on 
the  severest  contests  in  Which  he  was  ever  engaged.  Here,  too, 
he  encountered  the  formidable  opposition  of  Mr.  Pendleton,and 
Mr.  R.  C.  Nicholas,  both  zealous  churchmen.  The  bill  finally 
passed;  but  modified  by  its  opponents.  It  declared  all  acts  of 
Parliament,  which  prescribe  or  punish  the  maintenance  of  any 
opinions  in  matters  of  religion;  the  forbearing  to  repair  to 

*  This  probably  greatly  overrates  their  number. 
VOL.  I.— 13 


98  THE  LIFK  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

church,  or  the  exercising  any  mode  of  worship  whatsoever,  to 
be  of  no  validity  within  the  Commonwealth — it  exempts  dis- 
senters from  all  contributions  for  the  support  of  the  established 
church;  and,  as  this  exemption  might,  in  some  places,  make  the 
support  of  the  clergy  too  burthensome  on  the  members  of  the 
church,  it  suspends,  till  the  end  of  the  succeeding  session,  all 
acts  which  provide  salaries  for  the  clergy,  (except  as  to  arrears 
then  due,)  and  leaves  them  to  voluntary  contributions.  But,  at 
the  same  time,  it  reserves  to  the  established  church  its  glebe 
lands,  and  other  property,  and  it  defers  "to  the  discussion  and 
final  determination  of  a  future  Assembly,"  the  question,  whether 
every  one  should  not  be  subjected  by  law  to  a  general  assess- 
ment for  the  support  of  the  pastor  of  his  choice;  or  "every  reli- 
gious society  should  be  left  to  voluntary  contributions."  The 
church  party  had  previously  succeeded  so  far  as  to  obtain  a 
declaration  in  committee,  "that  religious  assemblies  ought  to  be 
regulated,  and  that  provision  ought  to  be  made  for  continuing 
the  succession  of  the  clergy,  and  superintending  their  conduct." 
In  the  two  following  years,  the  question  of  providing  for  the 
ministers  of  religion  by  law,  or  leaving  it  to  individual  contri- 
butions, was  renewed;  but  the  advocates  of  the  latter  plan  were 
only  able  to  obtain,  at  each  session,  a  suspension  of  those  laws 
which  provided  salaries  for  the  clergy— the  natural  progress  in 
favour  of  liberal  sentiments  being  counterbalanced  by  the  fact, 
that  some  of  the  dissenting  sects,  with  the  exception  of  the  Bap- 
tists, satisfied  with  having  been  relieved  from  a  tax  which  they 
felt  to  be  both  unjust  and  degrading,  had  no  objection  to  a 
general  assessment;  and,  on  this  question,  voted  with  the  friends 
of  the  church.  But  the  advocates  of  religious  freedom  finally 
prevailed,  and  after  five  suspending  acts,  the  laws  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  clergy  were,  at  the  second  session  of  1779,  uncondi- 
tionally repealed.  And  although  Mr.  Jefferson  was  not  then  a 
member  of  the  Legislature,  it  is  probable  that  his  influence,  as 
Governor  of  the  Commonwealth,  was  efficiently  exerted  towards 
its  repeal.  But  to  protect  the  rights  of  conscience,  it  was  not 
deemed  enough  to  remove  past  injustice,  it  was  also  thought 
prudent  to  prevent  its  recurrence.  Among  the  bills,  therefore, 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  99 

reported  by  the  revisers,  was  the  celebrated  act  of  religious 
freedom  drawn  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  which  not  merely  reasserts 
the  principles  of  religious  liberty  contained  in  the  bill  of  rights, 
but  aims  to  give  them  permanence,  by  an  argument  equally 
clear,  simple,  and  conclusive.* 

This  bill,  with  many  others,  was  not  acted  upon  by  the  Legis- 
lature for  several  years;  but,  in  the  mean  time,  the  friends  of 
the  Episcopal  church  prepared  to  make  one  more  effort  to 
recover  a  portion  of  its  ancient  privileges  by  a  general  assess- 
ment. Their  first  object  was  to  get  an  act  of  incorporation  for 
the  church,  to  enable  it  the  better  to  retain  and  defend  the 
large  property  it  held,  as  well  as  to  facilitate  further  acquisi- 
tions. A  resolution  having  passed  by  a  large  majority,  in  favour 
of  incorporating  "all  societies  of  the  Christian  religion"  which 
desired  it,  leave  was  immediately  given  to  bring  in  a  bill  "to 
incorporate  the  Protestant  Episcopal  church,"  by  which  the 
minister  and  vestry,  in  each  parish,  were  made  a  body  corpo- 
rate, for  holding  and  acquiring  property,  and  regulating  the 
concerns  of  the  church,  and  which  finally  passed  into  a  law. 
The  plan  of  a  general  assessment  met  with  more  difficulty.  The 
petitions  which  had  been  got  up  among  the  people  gave  it  the 
show  of  popularity,  and  it  received  the  powerful  aid  of  Patrick 
Henry's  eloquence.  Thus  supported,  it  seemed  likely  to  obtain 
a  majority,  when  those  who  were  opposed  to  the  measure,  on 
principle,  for  the  purpose  of  gaining  time,  proposed  to  refer  the 
matter  to  the  people,  before  the  Legislature  acted  on  it,  and 
they  succeeded  in  postponing  it.  George  Mason,  George  Nicho- 
las, and  others  of  this  party,  then  proposed  to  Mr.  Madison,  to 
prepare  a  remonstrance  to  the  next  Legislature  against  the 
assessment,  to  be  circulated  through  the  state  for  signatures. 
This  was  done,  and  the  paper  which  he  prepared,  exhibiting  the 
same  candid,  dispassionate,  and  forcible  reasoning,  which  have 
ever  characterized  the  productions  of  his  pen,  convinced  those* 
who  before  doubted,  so  that  there  was  a  general  disapprobation 
of  the  measure  among  all  sects  and  parties;  and  at  the  next 

*  Sec  Appendix  D. 


100  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

session,  the  table  could  scarcely  hold  the  petitions  and  remon- 
strances against  the  proposed  assessment.  Such  a  manifestation 
of  public  opinion  was  not  to  be  resisted.  The  measure  was 
abandoned,  and  Mr.  Jefferson's  bill,  with  some  slight  alterations, 
was  then  passed,  without  difficulty. 

To  conclude  this  history  of  religious  establishments  in  Vir- 
ginia: the  law  could  not  fairly  claim  the  praise  of  impartiality, 
so  long  as  a  single  church  had  the  benefits  of  incorporation;  and 
the  injustice  was  the  greater,  if,  as  the  other  sects  maintained, 
most  of  the  large  property  it  held  it  owed  to  the  public  bounty. 
In  two  years  afterwards,  the  act  allowing  religious  incorpora- 
tions was  repealed,  but  with  a  saving  to  all  religious  societies 
the  property  they  possessed,  with  the  right  of  appointing  trus- 
tees for  its  management.  In  1799,  all  these  laws,  as  well  as 
those  made  for  the  benefit  of  the  dissenters,  and  the  church, 
were  repealed,  as  inconsistent  with  the  bill  of  rights,  and  the 
principles  of  religious  freedom — and  lastly,  in  1801,  the  over- 
seers of  the  poor,  in  each  county,  were  authorized  to  sell  all  its 
glebe  lands,  as  soon  as  they  shall  become  vacant  by  the  death 
or  removal  of  the  incumbents  for  the  time;  but  reserving  the 
rights  of  all  private  donations  before  1777.  By  the  execution 
of  this  act,  the  last  vestige  of  legal  privilege  which  this  church 
had  over  other  sects  was  completely  eradicated. 

Before  this  experiment  of  the  entire  freedom  of  religion  was 
made,  philosophical  sagacity  had  foreseen  that  if  there  were 
numerous  religious  sects  in  a  country,  all  equal  in  the  eye  of  the 
law,  they  would  live  together  in  more  harmony  with  one  an- 
other, and  be  less  likely  to  disturb  the  public  peace,  than  where 
there  was  an  established  church,  armed  with  the  power  of  the 
law,  to  repress  dangerous  heresies,  and  to  control  rival  sects. 
That  principle  has  been  completely  verified  by  the  experience 
of  the  United  States.  The  ministers  of  the  different  persuasions 
'live  here,  if  not  in  fraternal  concord,  at  least,  with  all  the  out- 
ward signs  of  peace;  and  the  public  witnesses  no  other  conse- 
quence of  their  diversity  in  sentiment  than  in  the  general 
emulation  for  popular  favour.  This  emulation  has,  however, 
produced  another  effect  which  was  not  expected.  It  was  sup- 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  101 

posed  by  some  that  the  experiment  was  likely  to  result  in  the 
general  decline  of  religion.  They  said,  that  if  the  support  of 
the  ministers  of  religion  and  the  teachers  of  its  doctrines  are 
left  to  depend  on  voluntary  contributions,  these  would  com- 
monly be  inadequate  and  precarious:  that  although  the  fer- 
vour of  new-born  zeal  may  occasionally  call  forth  sufficient 
liberality,  it  cannot  be  expected  to  prevail  permanently  against 
a  feeling  so  steady  and  powerful  with  the  mass  of  mankind,  as 
the  love  of  property:  and  that  the  ministers,  worse  and  worse 
paid,  would  lessen  in  number,  and  deteriorate  in  quality,  until 
they  fell  into  insignificance  and  utter  disgrace:  that  nothing  but 
the  resistless  force  of  law  can  extract  from  the  community  the 
means  of  supporting  an  adequate  and  respectable  ministry;  and 
consequently,  for  religion  to  be  permanent,  it  must  be  established 
and  maintained  by  legal  authority.  Yet,  contrary  to  this  plau- 
sible reasoning,  it  is  found  that  the  emulation  produced  among 
the  several  sects,  since  they  have  all  been  put  on  an  equal 
footing,  has  the  effect  of  increasing  their  fervour,  their  sanctity, 
and  exertions,  which  again  produce  a  correspondent  effect  on 
the  community.  They  all  find,  that  it  is  only  by  being  more 
orthodox  expounders  of  the  scriptures,  by  having  more  of  the 
unction  of  piety,  by  more  cogent  reasoning,  or  more  persuasive 
eloquence,  that  they  can  extend  the  influence  of  their  particu- 
lar sect,  as  well  as  increase  their  individual  fame.  There  is, 
therefore,  an  energy,  and  an  extensive  diffusion  of  religious  sen- 
timent at  this  time,  which  was  unknown  before  the  Revolution, 
and  it  has  been  for  some  years  on  the  increase.  It  is  true,  that 
the  rewards  of  its  ministers  are  more  moderate  than  they  proba- 
bly would  be  if  there  was  an  establishment,  and  less  than  in 
any  of  the  nations  of  Europe;  but  it  is  still  found  sufficient  to 
keep  up  an  adequate  number  of  preachers,  aided  as  it  is  by  the 
additional  zeal  and  piety  which  this  state  of  things  calls  forth: 
and  if  many  individuals  now  pay  nothing,  or  very  little  towards 
the  support  of  a  minister,  there  are  some  who  contribute  more 
liberally  than  they  might  be  required  to  do  under  an  establish- 
ment. 

There  is  another  consequence  to  be  observed  from  this  entire 


102  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

freedom  of  religion  in  the  United  States,  and  its  dependance  on 
the  public  favour  for  support.  The  emulation  for  popularity 
is  not  confined  to  the  different  sects,  but  even  extends  to  the 
members  of  the  same  church;  and  their  rivalships  sometimes 
proceed  so  far  as  to  divide  the  same  sect  in  the  same  town  into 
two  parts,  forming  distinct  congregations,  under  separate  pas- 
tors, and  assembling  in  separate  churches.  Occasionally,  the 
seceders  lay  the  foundation  for  a  new  sect,  which  being  propa- 
gated by  zeal  and  talent,  comes  in  time  to  rival  its  parent  in 
numbers  and  influence.  It  is  for  time  to  show  how  far  this 
course  of  ramification  will  be  extended,  and  what  will  be  its 
remote  effects  on  the  cause  of  religion  generally. 

In  October,  of  this  year,  Mr.  Jefferson,  having  a  regard  to  the 
present  centre  of  population  which  was  steadily  travelling 
westwardly,  as  well  as  the  exposure  of  Williamsburg  to  the 
incursions  of  an  enemy,  proposed  to  remove  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment sixty  miles  farther  west,  to  Richmond.  But  this  measure, 
like  the  preceding,  was  in  advance  of  public  opinion,  and  did 
not  prevail  until  three  years  afterwards. 


103 


CHAPTER  V. 

Mr.  Jefferson  proposes  a  general  revision  of  the  laws.  Appointed  one  of 
the  Committee.  His  objections  to  Codification.  Distribution  of  the 
labour.  Character  of  the  Remsal.  Edmund  Pendleton.  Criminal 
Law.  James  Madison.  The  right  of  Expatriation  declared.  Sys- 
tem of  Education.  Jefferson's  opinions  on  Slavery.  Arguments  for 
and  against  the  practicability  of  Emancipation.  His  hospitable  and 
humane  attentions  to  the  English  prisoners  quartered  in  Albemarle. 
Prevents  their  removal  from  the  county. 

1777—1779. 

ONE  of  the  first  measures  which  Mr.  Jefferson  had  proposed 
at  this  session,  was  a  general  revision  of  the  laws,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  adapting  them  to  the  new  form  of  government,  as  well 
as  of  introducing  particular  ameliorations.  The  plan  was 
adopted  by  the  house;  and  early  in  November,  Edmund  Pen- 
dleton, George  Wythe,  George  Mason,  Thomas  L.  Lee,  were 
appointed  a  committee,  with  him,  for  its  execution.  The  com- 
mittee met  at  Fredericksburg,  in  January,  1777,  to  settle  their 
plan  of  proceeding,  and  to  distribute  to  each  one  his  part  of  the 
work.  The  first  question  they  discussed  was,  whether  they 
would  recommend  the  substitution  of  an  entirely  new  code  for 
the  existing  system  of  laws,  or  merely  a  modification  of  the  lat- 
ter, to  suit  the  present  circumstances  of  the  country — a  question 
which  must  recur,  after  certain  intervals,  in  all  free  and  civilized 
communities;  and,  in  deciding  which,  men  are  reduced,  as  in 
many  other  matters  of  human  policy,  to  a  choice  of  evils. 

Under  the  best  digested  and  most  cautiously  worded  code  that 
the  wit  of  man  could  devise,  cases  would  soon  arise  in  which 
the  application  of  the  rule  of  law  would  be  uncertain;  sometimes 
by  reason  of  inherent  uncertainty  of  language,  and  sometimes 


104  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

because  the  legislatures  did  not  foresee  those  cases,  or  deemed 
them  too  unimportant  to  be  provided  for.  At  other  times,  the 
case,  though  clearly  within  the  words  of  the  statute,  is  yet 
accompanied  with  such  peculiar  circumstances,  that  it  seems 
doubtful,  to  those  whose  duty  it  is  to  administer  the  law,  whether 
it  is  within  the  spirit  and  intention  of  the  rule.  And  lastly,  a 
case  may  appear  to  be  comprehended  within  two  different  and 
incompatible  rules,  and  the  question  is,  which  is  to  prevail.  In 
all  of  these  contingencies,  we  must  find  our  way  through  the 
labyrinth  of  uncertainty,  by  arguments  drawn  from  analogy,  or 
considerations  of  public  utility,  or  the  presumed  intention  of  the 
framer,  in  the  application  of  which,  there  is  great  scope  for  dif- 
ference of  opinion.  Hence  has  arisen  the  proverbial  uncertainty 
of  law,  invariably  incidental  to  all  codes;  and  hence,  the  nume- 
rous judicial  decisions  by  which  the  clear  omissions  of  the  Legis- 
lature are  supplied,  and  their  ambiguities  explained.  But 
every  new  adjudication  makes  a  new  rule  of  action,  or  right; 
and  when,  in  process  of  time,  these  decisions  have  been  greatly 
multiplied,  a  new  evil  arises  from  this  very  multiplicity,  both 
from  the  nicety  of  the  principles  which  they  have  settled,  and 
from  the  difficulty  of  reconciling  some  of  the  rules  with  others 
on  kindred  subjects,  so  as  to  erect  the  knowledge  of  such  mul- 
tifarious rules  into  a  separate  science,  which  it  requires  the 
acutest  intellect,  and  the  study  of  a  whole  life  to  understand. 

For  the  purposes  of  abridging  this  labour,  of  making  the  laws 
intelligible  to  a  greater  number,  and  of  removing  much  of  this 
uncertainty,  it  has  been  proposed  to  revise  these  judicial  deci- 
sions from  time  to  time;  and  after  rejecting  some,  and  amalga- 
mating others,  to  embody  them  thus  improved  in  the  written,  or 
statute  law.  This  course,  on  which  Mr.  Bentham  has  conferred 
celebrity,  under  the  name  of  codification,  was  proposed  by  the 
committee  on  this  occasion;  but  a  majority,*  including  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson, were  opposed  to  it,  so  far  as  respects  the  unwritten  law, 

*  On  this  question  of  codifying  the  common  law,  I  learn  from  Mr.  Madi- 
son, that  Mr.  Pendleton  and  Mr.  Lee  were  strongly  in  favour  of  it.  Mr. 
Wythe  and  Mr.  Jefferson  as  decidedly  opposed  to  it,  and  Mr.  Mason  gave 
the  casting  vote  against  it. 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  105 

for  reasons  which  must  be  deemed  cogent,  though  they  should 
fail  to  convince. 

"To  compose  a  new  institute,  they  said,  like  those  of  Justi- 
nian and  Bracton,  or  that  of  Blackstone,  which  was  the  model 
proposed  by  Mr.  Pendleton,  would  be  an  arduous  undertaking, 
of  vast  research,  of  great  consideration  and  judgment;  and  when 
reduced  to  a  text,  every  word  of  that  text,  from  the  imperfec- 
tion of  human  language,  and  its  incompetence  to  express  dis- 
tinctly every  shade  of  idea,  would  become  a  subject  of  question 
and  chicanery,  until  settled  by  repeated  adjudications;  that  this 
would  involve  us  for  ages  in  litigation,  and  render  property  un- 
certain, until,  like  the  statutes  of  old,  every  word  had  been 
tried  and  settled,  by  numerous  decisions,  and  by  new  volumes 
of  reports  and  commentaries;  and  that  no  one  of  us,  probably, 
would  undertake  such  a  work,  which,  to  be  systematical,  must 
be  the  work  of  one  hand." 

Two  of  the  committee,  Mr.  Mason  and  Mr.  Lee,  having  soon 
after  resigned,  on  the  ground  that  not  being  lawyers,  they  did 
not  feel  themselves  fit  for  the  undertaking,  the  other  three  mem- 
bers distributed  the  work  among  themselves  in  the  following 
manner:  The  common  law  and  the  British  statutes  to  the 
fourth  year  of  James  the  First,  (when  Virginia  first  had  a  sepa- 
rate legislature,)  were  allotted  to  Mr.  Jefferson:  the  same  sta- 
tutes, from  that  period  to  the  present  day,  to  Mr.  Wythe;  and 
the  statute  law  of  Virginia  to  Mr.  Pendleton.  As  the  most 
important  part  of  the  duty  was  assigned  to  Mr.  Jefferson,  it  is 
an  evidence  of  the  high  respect  in  which  he  was  held  by  his 
associates,  themselves  esteemed  as  the  best  lawyers  in  Virginia, 
and  two  of  the  ablest  men  in  the  union. 

As  the  law  of  descents,  and  that  for  the  punishment  of  crimes 
fell  within  his  province,  he  proposed  to  the  committee  to  settle 
their  leading  principles  before  he  entered  on  the  duty  of 
draughting  the  statutes;  and  having  proposed  to  abolish  the 
right  of  primogeniture,  and  to  put  females  on  the  same  footing 
as  males,  in  inheritances,  he  was  opposed  by  Mr.  Pendleton,  with 
whom  partiality  for  the  ancient  law  prevailed;  and  who,  finding 
he  could  not  preserve  to  the  first  born  the  whole  rights  he  had 

VOL.  I.— 14 


106  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

previously  enjoyed,  proposed  to  give  him  a  double  portion.  Mr. 
Jefferson  objected,  that  the  elder  son  could  have  no  claim,  in 
reason,  to  twice  as  much  as  his  brother  or  sisters,  "unless  he 
could  eat  twice  as  much,  or  do  double  work;"  and  Mr.  Wythe 
agreeing  with  him,  it  was  decided  to  make  them  all  equal. 

The  part  which  Mr.  Pendleton  took  on  this  and  some  other 
proposed  changes  in  the  laws,  tends  to  give  a  false  impression 
of  that  distinguished  patriot  and  jurist.  It  was  not  because  he 
wanted  liberality,  or  was  blindly  attached  to  ancient  things, 
that  he  was  sometimes  unwilling  to  carry  the  process  of  reform 
to  the  farthest  verge  of  what  was  right  in  the  abstract,  but 
from  a  spirit  of  conciliation  to  those  whose  interests  or  prejudi- 
ces were  about  to  be  assailed.  Thus,  in  aiming  to  correct  the 
prejudice  in  favour  of  primogeniture,  which  was  extensively 
diffused  in  Virginia,  he  wished  to  concede  something  to  those  who 
had  been  led  by  habit  and  education  to  cherish  it,  and  to  lake 
that  middle  course  which  long  prevailed  in  some  of  the  Northern 
states.  It  was  not,  in  short,  that  he  was  prompted  by  his  own 
narrow  views,  but  because  he  was  indulgent  and  forbearing  to 
such  views  in  others.  He  afterwards  became  the  presiding  judge 
in  the  highest  court  of  judicature  in  Virginia,  and  filled  the  office 
with  equal  dignity  and  ability  twenty-four  years  after  he  would 
have  been  disqualified  by  the  constitutions  of  some  of  the  states; 
and  never  was  a  judge  less  trammelled  by  false  refinements,  or 
technicalities,  or  ancient  abuses,  in  attaining  the  great  ends  of 
jurisprudence.  His  thorough  knowledge  of  the  law,  and  his 
fertility  in  argument  were  always  used  to  advance  the  cause  of 
justice,  and  never  to  impede  it.  This  was  so  much  his  charac- 
ter, that  while  from  the  elegance  and  perspicuity  of  his  diction, 
as  well  as  the  liberality  of  his  views,  he  was  called  the  Mans- 
field of  Virginia,  it  was  objected  by  some  cavillers,  (for  what 
excellence  is  exempt  from  these?)  that  he  confounded  the  func- 
tions of  a  chancellor  with  those  of  a  common  law  judge. 

Mr.  Jefferson,  after  bearing  testimony  of  his  high  intellectual 
powers,  and  his  unrivalled  dexterity  in  debate,  adds,  that  he 
•was  "one  of  the  most  virtuous  and  benevolent  of  men."  The 
difference  between  Mr.  Pendleton  and  Mr.  Jefferson,  was  be- 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSOX.  107 

tween  a  bold,  sanguine,  uncompromising  temper,  and  one 
that  was  cautious,  temporizing,  and  conciliating — between  the 
confidence  of  thirty-five,  and  the  prudence  of  sixty.  If  the 
event  has  shown  that  this  was  one  of  the  occasions  in  which 
boldness  was  not  rashness,  yet  it  was  also  one  in  which  a  tem- 
porizing policy  would  have  finally  effected  the  same  result;  for 
it  may  be  safely  affirmed,  that  if  Mr.  Pendleton  had  succeeded 
in  moulding  the  law  as  he  wished,  it  would  long  ago  have  been 
changed,  as  unsuited  to  the  spirit  of  the  age,  since,  in  all  the 
other  states,  the  children  of  a  person  dying  intestate  inherit 
equal  portions. 

The  clearness  and  simplicity  with  which  this  law  was  drawn 
by  Mr.  Jefferson,  has  long  been  the  theme  of  praise  among  Vir- 
ginia lawyers.  But  subsequent  interpolations  in  the  statute, 
suggested,  it  is  said,  with  a  view  to  prevent  particular  estates 
from  passing  into  other  families,  rendered  some  of  its  provisions 
both  inconsistent  and  obscure,  and  thus  gave  rise  to  several 
questions  concerning  inheritances,  which  could  be  settled  only 
by  the  process  of  litigation  and  judicial  decision. 

In  criminal  law,  the  committee  were  disposed  to  act  on  the 
system  recommended  by  Beccaria;  and,  abolishing  the  punish- 
ment of  death,  in  all  cases,  except  for  treason  and  murder,  to 
have  a  gradation  of  punishments  by  hard  labour.  In  some 
cases,  however,  they  proposed  to  adopt  the  principle  of  retali- 
ation. Mr.  Jefferson,  in  his  memoirs,  seems  to  wonder  how  "so 
revolting  a  principle  obtained  their  approbation,"  as  well  he 
might,  since,  besides  being  repugnant  to  modern  feelings,  it  is 
often  absurd,  and  sometimes  impracticable.* 

This  part  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  labours  indicates  a  good  deal  of 
industry  and  legal  research;  and  it  introduced  many  innovations 
which  still  constitute  a  part  of  the  penal  code  of  Virginia.  In  a 
letter  to  Mr.  Wythe,  in  November,  1778,  in  speaking  of  the  act 
for  "proportioning  crimes  and  punishments,  in  cases  heretofore 
capital,"  which  he  encloses,  he  says,  "in  its  style,  I  have  aimed  at 
accuracy,  brevity,  and  simplicity;  preserving,  however,  the  very 

*  It  seems  from  his  letter  to  Mr.  Wythe,  in  November,  1778,  that  this 
principle  was  adopted  against  his  approbation. 


108  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

words  of  the  established  law,  whether  their  meaning  had  been 
sanctioned  by  judicial  decisions,  or  rendered  technical  by  usage. 
The  same  matter,  if  couched  in  the  modern  statutory  language, 
with  all  its  tautologies,  redundancies,  and  circumlocutions,  would 
have  spread  itself  over  many  pages,  and  been  unintelligible  to 
those  whom  it  concerns.  Indeed,  I  wished  to  exhibit  a  sample 
of  reformation  in  the  barbarous  style,  into  which  modern  sta- 
tutes have  degenerated  from  their  ancient  simplicity.  And  I 
must  pray  you  to  be  as  watchful  over  what  I  have  not  said,  as 
what  is  said;  for  the  omissions  of  this  bill  have  all  their  positive 
meaning.  I  have  thought  it  better  to  drop  in  silence  the  laws 
we  mean  to  discontinue,  and  let  them  be  swept  away  by  the 
general  negative  words  of  this,  than  to  detail  them  in  clauses  of 
express  repeal." 

In  framing  the  other  laws,  he  took  the  precaution,  when  re- 
enacting  an  English  statute,  not  to  vary  its  ancient  diction,  lest 
"he  should  give  rise  to  new  questions  by  new  expressions;  and 
in  all  draughts  of  new  statutes,  he  endeavoured  to  avoid  the 
tautology  and  repetition  which  are  found  in  modern  statutes, 
and  which  multiplied  efforts  at  certainly,  he  justly  remarks,  by 
saids  and  aforesaids,  by  ors  and  by  ands,  to  make  them  more 
plain,  are  really  rendered  more  perplexed  and  incomprehensi- 
ble, not  only  to  common  readers,  but  to  the  lawyers  them- 
selves." 

The  committee  completed  their  work  in  February,  1779,  a 
little  more  than  two  years,  and  they  had  comprised  all  the 
common  law  which  they  thought  it  expedient  to  alter,  and  all 
either  of  the  English  or  Virginia  statutes,  which  they  thought 
should  be  retained,  in  one  hundred  and  twenty-six  bills,  occupy- 
ing nearly  ninety  folio  pages.  The  work  of  each  member  was 
afterwards  carefully  scrutinized,  and  amended  by  the  whole 
committee  of  three,  and  reported  to  the  General  Assembly  in 
the  following  June.  Some  of  the  bills  were  occasionally  se- 
lected and  passed  by  the  Legislature,  but  the  great  body  of 
them  were  not  acted  on  until  the  year  1785,  when,  as  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson remarks,  by  the  unwearied  exertions  of  Mr.  Madison,  in 
opposition  to  the  endless  quibbles,  chicaneries,  perversions,  vexa- 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  109 

tions  and  delays  of  lawyers  and  demi-lawyers,  most  of  the  bills 
were  passed  by  the  Legislature,  with  little  alteration."  It 
seems  probable,  from  the  language  here  used,  that  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son was  annoyed  by  the  cavils  and  objections  which  were  made 
to  some  of  the  bills  reported  by  this  class  of  men,  who  were  at 
once  most  likely  to  perceive  objections,  and  most  capable  of 
enforcing  them.  His  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Madison,  who 
•was  destined  to  occupy  so  distinguished  a  place  in  the  sub- 
sequent history  of  his  country,  commenced  in  1776.  From 
that  time,  until  they  were  separated  by  death,  there  was 
an  uninterruptible  friendship  of  fifty  years,  never  embittered 
by  envy  or  rivalry,  and  neither  weakened  by  separation,  nor 
cooled  by  difference  of  opinion.  They  first  met  in  the  Legisla- 
ture of  their  native  state,  and  Mr.  Jefferson,  referring  to  the 
occasion,  thus  speaks  to  posterity  of  his  illustrious  friend  and 
compatriot. 

"Mr.  Madison  came  into  the  hpuse  in  1776,  a  new  member 
and  young;  which  circumstances,  concurring  with  his  extreme 
modesty,  prevented  his  venturing  himself  in  debate,  before  his 
removal  to  the  Council  of  State,  in  November  '77.  From  thence 
he  went  to  Congress,  then  consisting  of  few  members.  Trained 
in  those  successive  schools,  he  acquired  a  habit  of  self-posses- 
sion, which  placed  at  ready  command,  the  rich  resources  of  his 
luminous  and  discriminating  mind,  of  his  extensive  information, 
and  rendered  him  first  of  every  assembly  afterwards,  of  which 
he  became  a  member.  Never  wandering  from  his  subject  into 
vain  declamation,  but  pursuing  it  closely  in  language,  pure, 
classical,  and  copious;  soothing  always  the  feelings  of  his  adver- 
saries by  civilities  and  softness  of  expression,  he  rose  to  the  emi- 
nent station  which  he  held  in  the  great  National  Convention  of 
1787;  and  in  that  of  Virginia,  which  followed,  he  sustained  the 
new  Constitution  in  all  its  parts,  bearing  off  the  palm  against 
the  logic  of  George  Mason,  and  the  fervid  declamation  of  Mr. 
Henry.  With  these  consummate  powers  were  united  a  pure 
and  spotless  virtue,  which  no  calumny  has  ever  attempted  to 
sully.  Of  the  powers  and  polish  of  his  pen,  and  of  the  wisdom 
of  his  administration  in  the  highest  office  of  the  nation,  I  need 


110  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

say  nothing — they  have   spoken,  and  will  forever  speak   for 
themselves." 

At  the  session  of  the  General  Assembly,  in  May,  1779,  Mr. 
Jefferson  introduced  a  law  which  defined  who  were  citizens  of 
the  Commonwealth,  and  recognised  the  right  of  expatriation,  as 
well  as  prescribed  the  mode  in  which  it  should  be  exercised. 
The  rights  of  citizenship,  being  given,  according  to  the  common 
law  of  England,  by  birth,  can  never  be  divested.  The  tie  of 
allegiance  is  considered  to  be  indissoluble.  But  the  opposite 
principle  on  which  the  Legislature  of  Virginia  proceeded,  better 
accords  with  the  liberal  spirit  of  the  age,  by  promoting  the  wel- 
fare of  individuals,  without  practically  affecting  national  secu- 
rity or  prosperity.  The  great  mass  of  every  community  are 
inevitably  destined  to  remain  in  the  country  where  they  are 
born — the  happy  and  thrifty  from  choice;  the  poor  from  ne- 
cessity— so  that,  of  all  the  possible  dangers  to  a  nation,  that 
arising  from  excessive  emigration  appears  to  be  the  most  vision- 
ary. The  rule  then  of  perpetual  allegiance  cannot  be  justified 
"by  national  considerations:  whilst,  on  the  other  hand,  individuals 
often  find  that  their  talents,  which  are  idle  and  unprofitable  at 
home,  may  be  usefully  and  gainfully  exerted  abroad,  or  that 
they  can  attain  that  peace  of  mind  in  other  countries,  which 
from  some  disappointment,  or  humiliation,  or  injustice,  is  de- 
nied them  at  home.  If  utility,  or  the  conduciveness  to  human 
happiness,  be  the  foundation  of  natural  law,  individuals  should, 
except  under  special  circumstances,  have  the  right  of  locomo- 
tion and  expatriation,  without  violating  the  rights  of  the  coun- 
j  try  abandoned.  It  was,  no  doubt,  with  these  rational  and  phi- 
lanthropic views,  that  the  law  in  question  was  suggested.  The 
right  has  since  expressly  received  the  general  sanction  of  the 
American  people,  and  has  found  a  virtual  recognition  in  the 
practice  of  all  other  civilized  nations. 

The  committee  having  made  such  important  provisions  for 
the  equal  distribution  of  property,  next  endeavoured  to  provide 
for  the  intelligence  of  the  people,  by  a  general  system  of  juve- 
nile instruction;  it  seeming  to  them,  that  the  stability  of  repub- 
lican government  depended  upon  diffusion  of  knowledge,  together 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFEKSON.  Ill 

with  the  prevention  of  those  overgrown  fortunes,  which  are  at 
once  likely  to  kindle  ambition,  and  to  furnish  the  means  of  grati- 
fying it;  as  well  as  to  encourage  a  distinction  between  the 
vulgar  and  the  well-born.  By  the  first  mentioned  course  of 
legislative  policy,  the  community  is  kept  right  in  its  feelings:  by 
the  second,  in  their  opinions,  and  in  the  knowledge  of  the  means 
of  taking  care  of  their  interests.  These  seem  to  be  the  two 
grand  pillars  of  popular  government,  and  no  effort  should  be 
spared  to  place  them  on  bases  at  once  solid  and  broad. 

With  these  views,  a  general  system  of  education  was  proposed 
by  the  committee,  which,  by  their  request,  was  prepared  by 
Mr.  Jefferson.  The  plan  recommended  three  degrees  of  instruc- 
tion, adapted  to  the  different  classes  of  society.  1st.  Elementary 
Schools,  for  all  the  children  in  the  community.  Sndly.  Colleges, 
for  a  further  degree  of  instruction,  suited  to  the  common  pur- 
poses of  life,  and  to  all  who  were  in  easy  circumstances.  3dly. 
To  exalt  William  and  Mary  into  a  University,  for  teaching  the 
highest  branches  of  science,  and  to  aid  it  by  an  extensive  librarv. 
Bills  for  these  several  objects  were  reported;  but  they  all  lay 
dormant  until  1796,  and  then  were  acted  on  only  so  far  as  con- 
cerned the  elementary  schools.  But  as  a  new  clause  was  then 
introduced,  by  which  the  execution  of  the  law  in  each  county 
was  left  discretionary  with  its  magistrates;  and  as,  moreover,  the 
bill  provided  that  every  county  should  defray  the  expense  of  its 
own  schools,  whereby  the  wealthy  would  be  made  to  bear  the 
expense  of  educating  the  poor,  the  magistrates,  who  generally 
belong  to  the  wealthy  class,  were  unfavourable  to  the  plan, 
and  it  was  not  carried  into  execution  in  a  single  county. 

A  plan  very  similar  to  the  preceding  was  adopted  by  the 
Legislature  in  1810;  and,  as  to  the  elementary  schools,  and  the 
University,  was  soon  afterwards  carried  into  execution.  Both 
these  branches  are  now  in  a  course  of  experiment  that  promises 
success. 

On  the  subject  of  slaves,  one  which  Mr.  Jefferson  seems  always 
to  have  regarded  with  the  interest  of  a  patriot,  as  well  as  of  a 
philanthropist,  the  committee  were  content  merely  to  make  a 
digest  of  the  laws  concerning  them.  But  they  further  agreed 


112  THE  .LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

to  an  amendment  to  the  bill,  whenever  it  should  be  taken  up, 
by  which  all  the  children  of  slaves,  born  after  an  appointed  day, 
should  be  free,  and  be  carried  out  of  the  state  when  they  arrived 
at  a  certain  age.  "It  was,  however,  found,  he  says,  that  the 
public  mind  would  not  yet  bear  the  proposition,  nor  will  it  bear 
it  even  at  this  day.  Yet  the  day  is  not  distant,  when  it  must 
bear  and  adopt  it,  or  worse  will  follow.  Nothing  is  more  cer- 
tainly written  in  the  book  of  fate,  than  that  these  people  are  to 
be  free;  nor  is  it  less  certain,  that  the  two  races,  equally  free, 
cannot  live  in  the  same  government.  Nature,  habit,  opinion, 
have  drawn  indelible  lines  of  distinction  between  them.  It  is 
still  in  our  power  to  direct  the  process  of  emancipation  and 
deportation,  peaceably,  and  in  such  slow  degree,  as  that  the  evil 
will  wear  off  insensibly,  and  their  place  be,  pari  passu,  filled  up 
by  free  white  labourers.  If,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  left  to  force 
itself  on,  human  nature  must  shudder  at  the  prospect  held  up. 
We  should  in  vain  look  for  an  example  in  the  Spanish  deporta- 
tion or  deletion  of  the  Moors.  This  precedent  would  fall  far 
short  of  our  case." 

These  propositions  seem  scarcely  to  admit  of  question;  and  yet 
so  little  regard  is  paid  to  the  interests  of  posterity  when  they 
thwart  our  present  convenience,  that  nothing  is  done  by  the  pre- 
sent generation  towards  warding  off  the  future  danger;  but  every 
one,  who  brings  his  mind  to  look  at  the  probable  consequences, 
consoles  himself  with  the  belief  that  the  crisis  of  the  disease 
will  not  arrive  in  his  day,  and  that  until  it  does  arrive,  the 
inconveniences,  so  far  as  they  are  perceived,  are  either  com- 
pensated by  some  attendant  advantage,  or  are  irremediable. 

The  whole  sum  of  the  moral  and  political  mischiefs  of  slavery 
may  not  be  overrated  by  moralists  and  economists,  but  those 
mischiefs  are  perhaps  not  precisely  of  the  character  supposed. 
Thus,  while  it  is  agreed  on  all  hands,  that  domestic  slavery  is 
unfavourable  to  the  productive  industry  of  a  country,  the  disad- 
vantage is  commonly  attributed  to  the  effect  produced  on  the 
slave,  who  is  urged  by  the  strongest  impulses  of  his  nature,  to 
work  as  sparingly,  and  consume  as  lavishly  as  he  can.  But  the 
mischief  of  slavery  seems  to  consist  more  in  its  effects  on  the 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  113 

master  than  on  the  slave.  It  necessarily  tends  to  make  him 
idle,  indolent,  proud,  luxurious  and  improvident.  It  is  true,  that 
the  slave,  not  having  the  same  direct  interest  in  the  fruits  of  his 
labour,  or  of  his  frugality  as  the  freeman,  will  often  be  less 
industrious,  and  more  wasteful.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  he  is 
as  often  made  to  be  a  more  industrious  producer,  and  a  more 
frugal  consumer,  than  he  would  be  if  free.  As  a  proof  of  this, 
the  wages  of  slaves  on  canals,  roads,  and  other  public  works,  is 
little  less  than  those  of  freemen,  and  sometimes  they  are  the 
same.  In  a  few  cases,  they  have  even  been  preferred,  as  being 
more  manageable.  Both  their  food  and  clothing  too  are  some- 
what cheaper  and  coarser  than  those  of  freemen.  It  is  then, 
by  its  moral  effects,  on  the  character  of  the  master,  that  it  less^ 
ens  the  productive  wealth  of  a  community;  and  that  Virginia 
and  the  Carolinas  are  less  populous,  less  wealthy  and  improved 
than  New  England,  New  York,  and  Pennsylvania:  that  Mary- 
land is  more  so  than  the  first  named  states,  since  she  has  fewer 
slaves  than  they  have;  but  less  so  than  the  last,  because  she  has 
slaves,  and  they  have  none:  and  lastly,  that  Ohio  has  grown 
and  improved  faster  than  Kentucky,  which  had  the  advantage 
of  prior  settlement. 

Such  being  the  disadvantages  inseparable  from  slavery,  the 
question  for  the  statesman  to  consider  is,  whether  it  be  practi- 
cable for  the  country  to  rid  itself  of  the  evil,  consistently  with 
its  own  safety?  Two  very  different  modes  readily  suggest  them- 
selves. One  is  to  emancipate  them,  and  suffer  them  to  re-  \ 
main  in  the  state,  partaking,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  of  the 
privileges  of  the  whites.  The  other  is,  to  send  them  out  of  the 
country,  either  as  slaves  or  freemen.  The  first  plan  seems  very 
easy  to  those  who  have  never  lived  in  a  country  in  which  negro 
slavery  prevails,  and  who  cannot  justly  estimate  the  rooted  and 
irreconcilable  prejudices  to  which  this  relation  between  two 
distinct  races  gives  rise.  They  seem  to  think,  that  nothing  but 
the  fiat  of  the  Legislature  is  required  to  knock  off  the  shackles 
of  the  slave,  and  to  exalt  him  at  once  into  the  equal  and  asso- 
ciate of  his  former  master,  and  by  a  still  more  intimate  union,  / 
subsequently,  to  amalgamate  the  two  races  into  one.  They  so 

VOL.  I.— 15 


114 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 


think,  though  they  every  day  see  men  drawing  a  line  of  sepa- 
ration between  themselves  and  their  fellow  men,  who  differ  in  no 
respect  from  themselves,  except  in  some  matter  of  opinion  or 
belief,  or  some  purely  artificial  distinction.  Do  they  suppose 
that  any  arguments  of  political  expediency  would  ever  bring 
the  English  House  of  Lords,  voluntarily,  to  relinquish  their  ex- 
clusive privileges;  or  that  the  members  of  the  established  church 
would,  with  their  own  consent,  admit  all  other  sects  to  an  equal 
participation  of  their  rights?  Did  the  patrician  order  in  Rome 
ever  willingly  surrender  any  portion  of  their  political  power  to 
the  plebeians?  And  in  all  cases,  have  those  who  possessed  the 
power  ever  wanted  pretexts  of  general  utility,  national  safety, 
or  tranquillity — some  form  of  the  public  good — to  continue 
things  as  they  were?  This  course  may  be  abstractedly  wrong; 
but  it  is  sufficient  that  it  is  natural,  to  show  that  the  scheme  is 
impracticable  in  a  popular  government. 

The  people  then,  in  the  slave-holding  states,  will  never  pur- 
posely resort  to  this  cure  of  the  evil.  If  it  takes  place  at  all, 
it  must  be  the  slow  and  imperceptible  operation  of  time,  and  not 
by  the  agency  of  the  law.  Nay  more,  when  they  contemplate 
the  possibility  of  such  a  result,  they  will  do  all  they  can  to  pre- 
vent what  is  so  repugnant  to  their  feelings.  But  even  if  we  were 
to  suppose  the  Legislature,  and  consequently  a  majority  of  the 
people  who  have  chosen  them,  to  divest  themselves  of  these  feel- 
ings, or  prejudices,  and  to  venture  on  the  great  experiment,  who 
can  pretend  to  say  that  it  would  be  a  safe  one?  When,  in  every 
community,  men  are  found  splitting  into  parties,  on  points  of 
difference  often  so  minute  as  to  be  unintelligible  to  a  stranger, 
who  can  foresee  how  much  they  would  be  aggravated  where 
the  line  of  separation  has  been  drawn  by  nature  herself;  and 
where  sensible  impressions  might  impart  their  own  peculiar 
vividness  to  the  feelings  of  party  animosity?  This  visible  differ- 
ence between  the  two  races  tends  now  to  preserve  public  tran- 
quillity, by  operating  on  the  minds  both  of  master  and  slave, 
and  confirms  the  authority  of  the  one,  and  the  submission  of  the 
other.  The  master  more  easily  persuades  himself  that  he  is 
naturally  superior— an  opinion  which  the  most  philosophical 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  115 

of  the  citizens  of  the  south  conscientiously  maintain — and  the 
slave  can  be  more  readily  brought  to  believe  that  the  inferiority, 
of  which  he  must  necessarily  be  conscious,  is  the  work  of  nature, 
rather  than  of  man;  and  he  is,  on  that  account,  more  resigned 
to  his  condition.  But  when  once  he  is  admitted  to  a  political 
equality,  much  of  this  prestige  would  soon  disappear.  The 
effects  of  property,  education,  natural  talent,  would  dispel  the 
greater  part  of  their  own  sense  of  inferiority,  without  propor- 
tionally altering  the  opinions  of  the  whites;  and  the  sullen  ill- 
will  which  now  occasionally  exists,  would  be  exchanged  for  the 
more  bitter  and  implacable  animosity  that  arises  between  equals 
and  rivals  struggling  for  the  mastery.  History  affords  little 
light  on  this  subject;  but  the  fierce  contests  between  the  Sara- 
cenic and  Gothic  races  in  Spain;  and  yet  more,  between  the 
blacks  and  the  whites  of  St.  Domingo,  which  ended  only  in  the 
extermination  of  the  weaker  party,  seem  to  be  too  much  in 
accordance  with  the  ordinary  principles  of  our  nature,  not  to 
warn  us  against  so  fearful  an  experiment. 

The  plan  of  colonizing  the  emancipated  slaves  is  the  only 
one  which  the  public  can  be  brought  to  sanction;  and  about  its 
practicability,  there  is  a  great  diversity  of  opinion  in  the  slave- 
holding  states.  Though  its  difficulties  may  have  been  overrated 
by  some,  they  must  be  admitted  to  be  great,  under  the  most 
favourable  circumstances,  by  every  one  who  gives  to  the  sub- 
ject an  attentive  examination. 

Mr.  Jefferson  always  regarded  emancipation,  accompanied 
with  colonization,  as  practicable;  and  while  engaged  in  the 
revision,  he  had  prepared  a  plan  for  that  object,  which  was 
not  indeed  reported  by  the  committee,  but  which  they  meant 
should  be  offered  to  the  Legislature,  by  way  of  amendment, 
when  the  bill  concerning  slaves  was  taken  up.  This  plan  was 
to  declare  all  children  born  after  the  passage  of  the  act  to  be 
free,  but  to  continue  with  their  parents  till  a  certain  age,  then 
be  brought  up,  at  the  public  expense,  to  tillage,  arts  or  sciences, 
according  to  their  genius,  till  the  females  should  be  eighteen, 
and  the  males  twenty-one.  They  were  to  be  colonized  in  such 
place  as  the  circumstances  of  the  time  should  render  most  pro- 


)r*0£ 


116  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

per,  taking  with  them  arms,  implements  of  the  household  and 
the  handicraft  arts,  seeds,  pairs  of  the  useful  domestic  animals, 
and  to  be  declared  a  free  and  independent  people.  Our  alliance 
and  protection  to  be  extended  to  them,  till  they  had  acquired 
strength,  and  vessels  to  be  sent,  at  the  same  time,  to  other  parts 
of  the  world  for  an  equal  number  of  white  inhabitants,  who 
were  to  be  induced  to  migrate  hither,  by  proper  encourage- 
ments. 

Supposing  the  plan  adopted,  let  us  see  its  operation.  Allowing 
the  rate  of  increase  to  be  so  kept  down  by  emigration  to  other 
states,  as  the  last  census  shows  it  to  have  been  between  1820 
and  1880,  that  is,  one  per  cent,  annually;  thirty  dollars  for  the 
cost  of  transporting  each  emigrant  to  Africa,  and  the  same  sum 
for  his  temporary  support  there;  it  may  be  shown,  that,  on  this 
plan,  the  state  would  be  rid  of  all  its  slaves  by  the  year  1901, 
except  the  few  who  would  be  over  sixty-five  years  of  age:  and 
that  the  annual  cost  would,  in  1758,  when  the  transport  of  the 
emancipated  would  begin,  be  420,000  dollars;  would  gradually 
increase  to  504,200  dollars,  until  the  year  1879;  after  which,  it 
would  gradually  diminish  until  the  year  1901,  when  it  would 
cease  altogether. 

The  objections  which  have  presented  themselves  to  this  plan 
are'  *^at  it  violates  the  rights  of  private  property:  that  while 
the  right  of  the  community  to  tax  its  individual  citizens  is 
limited  only  by  the  extent  of  the  public  exigencies,  its  duty 
is  to  make  these  taxes  equal,  and  not  to  throw  them  exclusively 
on  one  class  —  such  a  course  being  equally  contrary  to  natural 
justice,  and  to  that  constitutional  principle  which  forbids  the 
seizure  of  private  property  for  public  use,  without  just  compen- 
sation: that  the  slave-holding  interest  in  Virginia  having  a 
majority  in  the  Legislature,  the  plan  could  not  be  adopted  with- 
out its  approbation;  and  it  cannot  be  supposed,  they  would  con- 
sent to  impose  on  themselves  more  than  their  just  share  of  the 
public  burthens:  that  if  the  emancipated  slaves  are  to  be  paid 
for,  it  requires  an  amount  of  taxation  which  the  people  proba- 
bly could  not  endure,  and  certainly  would  not  voluntarily  sub- 
mit to:  or,  if  under  the  influence  of  some  strong  feeling,  they 


THE  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 


117 


can  be  supposed  willing  to  impose  on  themselves  such  unwonted 
burthens — more  than  four  times  the  amount  of  the  state  reve- 
nue— it  would  be  only  for  a  time,  and  could  not  be  expected  to 
continue  for  the  term  that  is  necessary  to  success:  that,  therefore, 
in  the  event  of  a  war  or  other  public  calamity,  or  whenever  the 
zeal  for  emancipation  had  been  overpowered  by  some  new 
object  of  popular  excitement,  they  would  relieve  themselves 
from  the  pressure,  and  abandon  the  scheme. 

It  is  further  objected,  that  the  slaves  constitute  the^chief  class 
of  productive  labourers  in  the  state,  and  that  as  the  same  pro- 
cess of  colonization  which  increased  the  public  burthens,  would 
diminish  the  means  of  meeting  them,  thej=tate  would. jlecJLne in 
wealth  so  long  as  the  plan  was  in  operation:  that  this  decline 
of  prosperity  would  be  yet  greater  from  the  increased  emigra- 
tion of  the  whites,  which  the  increased^  taxation  would  produce: 
that  it  would  be  ujireasonable  to  expect  white  labourers 
from  other  states,  or  from  Europe,  to  replace  the  slave  labour 
sent  away;  as  the  stigma  which  slavery  always  affixes  to  bodily 
labour,  and  which  has  hitherto  discouraged  migration  to  Vir- 
ginia, would  continue  until  slavery  was  abolished:  that  the  dis- 
tinction between  the  ante  nati  and  post  nati,  drawing  an  odious 
line  between  children  of  the  same  parents,  would  produce  set-  * 
tied  discontents  in  the  minds  of  those  who  were  retained  in 
slavery,  which  would  stimulate  them  to  insurrection  and  rebel- 
lion: that  this  plan  of  deportation,  if  practicable,  would  be  an 
act  of  cruelty  to  the  emancipated,  by  severing  the  ties  of  kindred 
and  country,  and  compelling  them  to  seek  a  precarious  liveli- 
hood in  a  new  colony,  which,  continually  receiving  large  acces- 
sions to  its  class  of  consumers,  would  often  be  exposed  to  the 
evils  of  scarcity:  and  lastly,  that  the  colonists  themselves,  as  soon 
as  they  had  confidence  in  their  strength,  might  rebel  against 
the  further  admission  of  new  settlers;  and  the  emigrants  being 
thus  converted  into  soldiers,  and  made  to  fight,  instead  of  work, 
the  plan  of  colonization  must  then  be  abandoned,  whether  they 
succeeded  in  obtaining  a  foothold,  or  were  repulsed. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  framers  of  the  scheme,  while  they 
admit  that  the  country  cannot  rid  itself  of  its  slaves,  but  at 


118  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

great  cost  and  difficulty,  insist,  that  it  cannot  escape  the  evil  by 
doing  nothing:  that  setting  aside  the  mischiefs  of  slavery,  moral 
and  political,  those  of  emancipation,  whatever  they  may  be, 
must  be  encountered,  sooner  or  later;  as  the  time  must  come, 
when  the  value  of  a  slave  will  not  repay  the  cost  and  care  of 
raising  him,  in  which  case,  slavery  necessarily  terminates:  and 
although  we  cannot  determine  with  precision  when  that  period 
will  arrive,  depending  as  it  does  upon  so  many  variable  circum- 
stances, yet  we  may  fairly  presume  it  will  take  place  in  less 
than  a  century.  Long  before  the  lapse  of  that  time,  the  slave- 
holding  states,  at  a  diminished  rate  of  increase,  will  contain 
forty  millions  of  inhabitants,  or  more  than  sixty  to  a  square 
mile;  and  labour  must  have  considerably  declined  from  its  pre- 
sent value  before  this  moderate  density  is  reached.  We  have 
to  choose  then  between  the  evils  of  emancipation  when  the 
remedy,  though  severe,  is  practicable,  and  the  same  evils  when 
they  admit  of  neither  cure  nor  mitigation. 

They  insist  that  the  plan  would  violate  no  principle  of  right, 
and  would  be  neither  impracticable  nor  oppressive;  that,  so  far  as 
there  was  inequality  in  the  tax,  it  was  justified  by  what  had 
always  been  deemed  a  fair  principle  of  legislation,  the  practice 
**  of  taxing  nuisances,  and  whatever  is  detrimental  to  the  com- 
munity: and,  in  point  of  fact,  it  would  make  an  unimportant 
difference  whether  the  slave-holders  were  paid  for  their  eman- 
cipated slaves  or  not,  since  nine-tenths  of  the  taxable  funds  of 
the  state  are  held  by  this  class,  and  the  slaves  being  generally 
distributed  among  the  citizens,  in  proportion  to  their  wealth, 
the  slave  owners  would  have  to  advance  almost  as  much,  by 
way  of  tax,  as  they  would  receive  in  the  way  of  compensation: 
that  the  slave-holders,  being  also  landlords,  they  would  find 
their  remuneration  in  the  increased  value  of  their  lands,  which 
the  abolition  of  slavery  would  eventually  impart:  that  the 
larger  portion  of  the  cost,  the  value  of  the  emancipated  slaves, 
would  be  less  felt,  inasmuch  as  it  would  fall  on  property  that 
was  not  yet  productive,  and  long  before  it  could  become  so: 
that  as  the  expense  of  transportation  would  not  begin  for  eigh- 
teen years,  preparations,  in  the  mean  time,  could  be  made  for 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  119 

their  removal  and  reception  in  the  colony,  by  which  means,  the 
cost  may  be  brought  far  within  the  ordinary  estimate;  but  sup- 
posing it  to  begin  on  420,000  dollars  a  year,  that  sum  would 
require  a  tax  of  but  forty  cents  from  each  inhabitant;  so  that 
the  charge  on  Virginia,  for  the  attainment  of  this  great  moral 
and  political  object,  would  be  less  than  one-fourth  of  what  she 
contributes  to  the  national  revenue,  and  not  half  of  what  she 
saves  by  the  discharge  of  the  national  debt:  that  her  interest 
in  the  public  lands,  if  prudently  managed,  might  be  made  ade- 
quate to  defraying  the  greater  part,  if  not  all  the  public  expense: 
that  if  such  a  plan  were  once  adopted,  there  are  hundreds  of 
our  most  intelligent  and  patriotic  citizens,  who,  seeing  a  pros- 
pect of  ridding  the  country  of  what  they  regard  as  its  greatest 
curse,  would  further  the  object  by  money,  as  well  as  emanci- 
pation; and  many,  who  could  not  conveniently  part  with  their 
slaves  during  life,  would  emancipate  them  by  will:  that  the 
certain  prospect  of  the  abolition  of  slavery,  would  invite  settlers 
from  abroad:  that  the  stream  of  population  from  the  Northern 
states,  and  from  Europe,  would  naturally  seek  its  level  in  Vir- 
ginia, after  the  barrier  which  had  so  long  obstructed  its  course 
was  removed:  that  such  a  healthy  infusion  of  industry,  skill,  and 
capital  would  give  new  vigour  to  the  agriculture,  arts  and 
manufactures  of  the  state,  and  to  the  morals  and  thrift  of  its 
people;  and  while  the'gross  product  of  her  soil  and  industry 
would  thus  be  augmented,  in  quantity  and  value,  she  would  have 
a  weight  in  the  national  councils  for  the  whole  of  her  labouring 
population,  and  not  merely  for  three-fifths  of  it,  as  at  present. 

In  reply  to  the  other  objections,  they  urge  that  the  evils  ap- 
prehended from  the  distinction  between  the  ante  nati  and  the 
post  nati  are  altogether  visionary,  because,  when  a  similar  course 
has  produced  no  such  consequences  in  other  states,  they  ought 
not  to  be  expected  here,  where  emancipation  would  be  accom- 
panied with  a  sentence  of  banishment:  and  because  rebellion 
would  be  prevented,  then  as  now,  by  a  conviction  that  it  would 
be  ineffectual,  especially  when  a  large  part  of  the  community 
already  had,  and  the  children  of  the  rest  would  have,  the  de- 
sired boon  of  freedom:  that  the  colonists  would  not  possess  either 


\ 


120  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

the  power  or  inclination  to  refuse  to  receive  new  settlers  until 
the  colony  had  acquired  a  density  of  population  which  supposes 
the  execution  of  the  plan;  for  until  that  was  attained,  new  set- 
tlers would  be  welcomed  as  an  accession  to  their  wealth  and 
strength:  that  Africa  still  has  territory  enough  for  a  large  addi- 
tion to  her  population,  provided  improved  arts  of  husbandry  and 
civilization  were  introduced  at  the  same  time;  and  the  plan  of 
colonization  to  that  continent  does  not  preclude  subsidiary 
schemes  of  sending  coloured  emigrants  to  Hayti,  and  other 
places:  that  the  English  West  Indies  may  soon  afford  an  outlet, 
or  even  a  part  of  the  Pacific  coast:  that  it  would  imply  a 
singular  tenderness  for  posterity  to  refuse  to  let  them  form  an 
independent  government  on  this  continent,  and  yet  to  let  them 
remain  in  a  connexion  with  the  same  posterity,  at  once  indis- 
soluble and  irreconcilable:  and  lastly,  that  these  hazards  are 
contingent,  while  the  evils  we  would  avoid  are  certain,  and 
should  the  scheme  on  any  account  be  suspended  or  even  arrest- 
ed, a  great  public  benefit  would  be  achieved  by  the  plan,  in  pro- 
portion to  its  partial  execution. 

To  whichever  party  we  may  be  disposed  to  assign  the  pre- 
ponderance in  their  arguments  on  this  question,  we  must  admit 
that  there  is  sufficient  weight  in  the  views  entertained  by  one 
side  to  keep  alive  the  hopes  of  the  advocates  of  emancipation, 
and  in  those  of  the  other  to  make  the  scheme  appear  imprac- 
ticable; from  which  we  may  infer,  that  nothing  less  than  a  deep 
sense  of  its  necessity,  and  a  general  popular  feeling,  amounting 
to  enthusiasm,  will  be  ever  able  to  overcome  its  difficulties,  or 
even  to  encounter  them. 

With  this  session  terminated  Mr.  Jefferson's  duties  as  legis- 
lator, and  it  may  be  remarked  that,  in  this  character,  there 
seems  to  have  been  no  one  of  his  compatriots  who  had  taken 
such  far-sighted  and  philosophical  views  in  adapting  the  civil 
institutions  of  Virginia  to  its  new  circumstances,  or  who  had 
contributed  so  largely  to  give  them  effect.  Of  the  laws  of  which 
he  was  the  author  or  chief  promoter,  he  regarded  the  four  that 
have  been  mentioned  as  forming  a  system  by  which  every  fibre 
of  ancient  or  future  aristocracy  would  be  eradicated,  and  a 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  121 

foundation  laid  for  a  government  truly  republican.  These  laws 
he  thus  eulogizes.  "The  repeal  of  the  laws  of  entail  would 
prevent  the  accumulation  and  perpetuation  of  wealth,  in  select 
families,  and  preserve  the  soil  of  the  country  from  being  daily 
more  and  more  absorbed  in  mortmain.  The  abolition  of  pri- 
mogeniture, and  equal  partition  of  inheritances,  removed  the 
feudal  and  unnatural  distinctions  which  made  one  member  of 
every  family  rich,  and  all  the  rest  poor;  substituting  equal  par- 
tition, the  best  of  all  Agrarian  laws.  The  restoration  of  the 
rights  of  conscience  relieved  the  people  from  taxation  for  the 
support  of  a  religion  not  theirs;  for  the  establishment  was  truly 
the  religion  of  the  rich,  the  dissenting  sects  being  entirely  com- 
posed of  the  less  wealthy  people;  and  these,  by  the  bill  for  a 
general  education,  would  be  qualified  to  understand  their  rights, 
to  maintain  them,  and  to  exercise  with  intelligence  their  parts 
in  self-government:  and  all  this  would  be  effected,  without  the 
violation  of  a  single  natural  right  of  any  one  individual  citizen. 
To  these,  too,  might  be  added,  as  a  further  security,  the  intro- 
duction of  the  trial  by  jury  into  the  chancery  courts,  which 
have  already  ingulfed,  and  continue  to  ingulf,  so  great  a  pro- 
portion of  the  jurisdiction  over  our  property." 

In  the  beginning  of  this  year,  the  removal  of  the  troops  cap- 
tured at  Saratoga,  under  General  Burgoyne,  from  Boston  to 
Virginia,  afforded  Mr.  Jefferson  an  opportunity  of  exhibiting 
liberality  towards  the  enemies  of  his  country,  and,  in  the  exer- 
cise of  the  rites  of  hospitality,  of  softening  the  rigours  of  cap- 
tivity. These  troops  had  reached  Albemarle  early  in  1779,  and 
were  stationed  five  miles  north  of  Charlottesville.  Some  deviation 
from  the  courtesy  of  modern  warfare  might  have  been  excusably 
withheld  from  these  prisoners,  from  the  odiousness  of  the  cause 
in  which  they  were  engaged,  but  humane  and  generous  senti- 
ments prevailed,  and  the  interchange  of  civility  begat  a  kind- 
ness of  feeling  which  in  some  cases  ripened  into  friendship.  He 
contributed  to  make  the  situation  of  all  the  prisoners  more  com- 
fortable, and  those  officers  who  were  recommended  by  their 
manners,  taste  for  letters,  or  music,  were  often  his  guests.  -The 
merit  of  these  attentions  was  enhanced  by  the  delicacy  which 

VOL.  I.— 16 


122  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

accompanied  them.  In  reply  to  a  card  from  Major- General 
Phillips,  Mr.  Jefferson  says:  "The  great  cause  which  divides  our 
countries  is  not  to  be  decided  by  individual  animosities.  The 
harmony  of  private  societies  cannot  weaken  national  efforts. 
To  contribute  by  neighbourly  intercourse  and  attention  to  make 
others  happy,  is  the  shortest  and  surest  way  of  being  happy 
ourselves.  As  these  sentiments  seem  to  have  directed  your  con- 
duct, we  should  be  as  unwise  as  illiberal,  were  we  not  to  pre- 
serve the  same  temper  of  mind." 

To  Major-General  Reidesel,*  who  commanded  the  Hessian 
troops,  he  wrote:  "The  little  attentions  you  are  pleased  to  mag- 
nify so  much,  never  deserved  a  mention  or  thought.  Opposed 
as  we  happen  to  be  in  our  sentiments  of  duty  and  honour,  and 
anxious  for  contrary  events,  I  shall  nevertheless  sincerely  rejoice 
in  every  circumstance  of  happiness  and  safety  which  may  attend 
you  personally."  The  example  of  Mr.  Jefferson  was  followed 
by  most  of  the  wealthier  inhabitants  of  the  county,  and  many 
of  the  officers,  both  English  and  German,  have  borne  grateful 
testimony  to  the  polite  and  hospitable  character  of  the  Vir- 
ginians, and  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  in  particular. 

These  troops  had  not  been  long  in  Albemarle  before  it  was 
proposed  to  remove  them  to  some  place  where  it  would  be  easier 
to  furnish  them  with  the  necessary  supplies,  and  where  it  would 
be  found  less  practicable  for  the  prisoners  to  desert.  On  hear- 
ing this,  Mr.  Jefferson  addressed  a  long  letter  to  Governor  Henry, 
in  which  he  set  forth  so  many  strong  reasons  against  their  remo- 
val from  Albemarle,  that  they  were  permitted  to  remain.  He 

*  The  lady  of  this  officer,  who  was  a  German  baron,  after  her  return 
to  her  own  country,  published  the  letters  she  had  written  to  her  friends, 
during  her  residence  in  Albemarle,  which  were  translated  by  Mr.  Wal- 
lenstein,  of  the  Russian  Legation,  about  ten  years  ago,  and  thus  repub- 
lished  in  Philadelphia.  She  is  still  recollected,  or  lately  was,  by  some  of 
the  oldest  inhabitants,  as  a  handsome,  agreeable  woman,  but  somewhat 
of  an  Amazon  in  stature,  dress,  and  in  riding,  according  to  the  fashion 
in  Germany,  like  a  man. 

The  letters  are  amusing— not  the  less,  perhaps,  for  a  seasoning-  of 
scandal— and  bear  grateful  testimony  to  Mr.  Jefferson's  hospitalities. 
The  General  lived  at  Colle,  then  the  property  of  the  well  known  Mazzei, 
and  where  his  vineyard  was  then  in  the  course  of  experiment. 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  123 

urged  the  healthiness  of  the  spot,  its  central  position,  equally 
secure  from  attacks  from  the  east  and  the  west,  and  that  the 
prisoners  themselves  would  be  deprived  of  those  comforts  which 
they  had  now  gathered  around  them. 

A  part  of  this  document  seems  to  deserve  transcribing,  not 
only  for  its  liberal  sentiments,  in  strict  accordance  with  its 
author's  conduct  towards  the  prisoners,  but  also  for  the  pleasing 
picture  it  exhibits  of  the  efforts  made  by  the  troops  to  beguile 
the  tedium  of  inaction,  and  the  irksomeness  of  captivity. 

"It  is  for  the  benefit  of  mankind  to  mitigate  the  horrors  of  war 
as  much  as  possible.  The  practice,  therefore,  of  modern  nations 
of  treating  captive  enemies  with  politeness  and  generosity,  is 
not  only  delightful  in  contemplation,  but  really  interesting  to 
all  the  world,  friends,  foes,  and  neutrals.  Let  us  apply  this: 
the  officers,  after  considerable  hardships,  have  all  procured 
quarters,  comfortable  and  satisfactory  to  them.  In  order  to  do 
this,  they  were  obliged,  in  many  instances,  to  hire  houses  for  a 
year,  certain,  and  at  such  exorbitant  rents,  as  were  sufficient  to 
tempt  independent  owners  to  go  out  of  them,  and  shift  as  they 
could.  These  houses,  in  most  cases,  were  much  out  of  repair. 
They  have  repaired  them  at  a  considerable  expense.  One  of 
the  general  officers  has  taken  a  place  for  two  years,  advanced 
the  rent  for  the  whole  time,  and  been  obliged,  moreover,  to  erect 
additional  buildings,  for  the  accommodation  of  a  part  of  his 
family,  for  which  there  was  not  room  in  the  house  rented. 
Independent  of  the  brick  work,  for  the  carpentry  of  these  addi- 
tional buildings,  I  know  he  is  to  pay  fifteen  hundred  dollars. 
The  same  gentleman,  to  my  knowledge,  has  paid  to  one  person 
three  thousand  six  hundred  and  seventy  dollars,  for  different 
articles,  to  fix  himself  cornmodiously.  They  have,  generally, 
laid  in  their  stocks  of  grain,  and  other  provisions;  for  it  is  well 
known  that  officers  do  not  live  on  their  rations.  They  have 
purchased  cows,  sheep,  &c.;  set  into  farming;  prepared  their 
gardens,  and  have  a  prospect  of  quiet  and  comfort  before  them. 
To  turn  to  the  soldiers — the  environs  of  the  barracks  are 
delightful,  the  ground  cleared,  laid  off  in  hundreds  of  gardens, 
each  inclosed  in  its  separate  paling;  these  well  prepared,  and 


124  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

exhibiting  a  fine  appearance.  General  Reidesel  alone  laid  out 
upwards  of  two  hundred  pounds  in  garden  seeds  for  the  German 
troops  only.  Judge  what  an  extent  of  ground  these  seeds  would 
cover.  There  is  little  doubt,  that  their  own  gardens  will  fur- 
nish them  with  a  great  abundance  of  vegetables  through  the 
year.  Their  poultry,  pigeons,  and  other  preparations  of  that 
kind,  present  to  the  mind  the  idea  of  a  company  of  farmers, 
rather  than  a  camp  of  soldiers.  In  addition  to  the  barracks 
built  for  them  by  the  public,  and  now  very  comfortable,  they 
have  built  great  numbers  for  themselves,  in  such  messes  as 
fancied  each  other;  and  the  whole  corps,  both  officers  and  men, 
seem  now  happy  and  satisfied  with  their  situation.  Having  thus 
found  the  art  of  rendering  captivity  itself  comfortable,  and  car- 
ried it  into  execution,  at  their  own  great  expense  and  labour, 
their  spirits  sustained  by  the  prospect  of  gratifications  rising 
before  their  eyes,  does  not  every  sentiment  of  humanity  revolt 
against  the  proposition  of  stripping  them  of  all  this,  and  remov- 
ing them  into  new  situations,  where,  from  the  advanced  season 
of  the  year,  no  preparations  can  be  made  for  carrying  them- 
selves comfortably  through  the  heats  of  summer;  and  when  it  is 
known  that  the  necessary  advances  for  the  conveniences  already 
provided,  have  exhausted  their  funds,  and  left  them  unable  to 
make  the  like  exertions  anew?" 


125 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Mr.  Jefferson  elected  Governor  of  Virginia.  Difficulties  of  his  situa- 
tion. George  Rogers  Clarke.  Retaliation  on  Governor  Hamilton 
and  others.  Its  effects.  Claims  of  Virginia  to  the  Western  Terri- 
tory. Resisted  by  other  States.  Her  cession  of  the  Territory.  Dif- 
ficulty of  providing  military  supplies  and  of  transporting  them.  Ar- 
nold1 s  predatory  incursion.  Its  success  explained.  Abortive  attempts 
to  capture  Arnold.  Invasion  under  Phillips  and  Arnold.  Their  opera- 
tions. Correspondence  between  the  Governor  and  General  Phillips. 
Meeting  of  the  Legislature.  It  adjourns  to  Charlottesville.  Lord 
Cornwallis  invades  Virginia.  The  Governor  declines  a  re-election. 
His  motives.  Tarlton  detached  to  Charlottesville.  Mr.  Jefferson  and 
the  members  of  Assembly  narrowly  escape  capture. 
1779—1781. 

BUT  Mr.  Jefferson  was  now  about  to  enter  on  a  new  field  of 
public  service,  for  some  of  the  duties  of  which  he  was  little 
qualified  by  his  previous  habits  and  pursuits.  On  the  1st  of 
June  he  was  elected  Governor  of  the  state;  Mr.  Henry  having 
served  as  long  as  the  Constitution  allows.  It  was  not,  however,  an 
uncontested  honour,  as  his  friend,  Mr.  Page,  was  his  competitor. 
This  gentleman  had  been  a  member  of  the  Council  of  State 
under  the  regal  government;  but  as,  on  the  breaking  out  of  the 
disturbances,  he  had  taken  sides  with  his  country,  he  had  there- 
by acquired  great  popularity,  and  the  greater,  from  the  contrast 
which  his  course  presented  to  that  of  some  of  his  associates.  It 
is  gratifying  to  know,  that  the  delicate  position  in  which  Mr. 
Jefferson  and  he  were  now  placed  by  others,  produced  no 
interruption  to  their  friendship. 

It  was,  however,  for  the  time,  painful  and  embarrassing  to 


126  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

both.  Mr.  Page  wrote  to  Mr.  Jefferson  on  the  occasion,  in  a 
style  suited  to  his  amiable  and  disinterested  character,  and  Mr. 
Jefferson,  in  reply,  expressed  lively  regret  that  the  zeal  of  their 
respective  friends  should  have  ever  placed  them  "in  the  situ- 
ation of  competitors;"  but  he  adds,  "I  am  comforted,  however, 
with  the  reflection  that  it  was  their  competition,  not  ours,  and 
that  the  difference  of  the  numbers  which  decided  between  us, 
was  too  insignificant  to  give  you  a  pain,  or  me  a  pleasure,  had 
our  disposition  towards  each  other  been  such  as  to  admit  those 
sensations." 

Mr.  Page  was  a  member  of  the  first  Congress,  under  the  new 
Constitution,  and  in  1822,  succeeded  Mr.  Munroe,  as  Governor 
of  Virginia,  in  which  office  he  continued  the  constitutional  term 
of  three  years. 

At  the  age  then  of  thirty-six,  Mr.  Jefferson,  who  had  already 
so  signalized  himself  as  a  legislator  and  jurist,  was  about  to  test 
his  talents  for  executive  duties.  The  period  when  he  was  thus 
called  upon  to  act  was  one  of  peculiar  difficulty.  In  the  begin- 
ning of  the  year  1779,  there  was  an  evident  relaxation,  on  the 
part  of  the  states,  from  their  former  efforts  to  carry  on  the  war. 
This  was  not  owing  to  any  cooling  of  their  ardour  in  the  cause 
of  independence,  nor  yet  to  the  continued  pressure  of  heavy- 
taxation;  but  to  a  too  sanguine  reliance  on  the  recent  treaty 
with  France,  as  well  as  the  known  favourable  dispositions  of 
.other  European  powers;  and,  naturally  overrating  their  results, 
they  considered  the  war  as  almost  virtually  terminated.  The 
evil  was  not  despondence,  but  too  confident  security.  Congress 
partook  somewhat  of  the  popular  languor  which  was  thus  pro- 
duced, and  the  requisitions  of  General  Washington  met  with  a 
tardy  and  inadequate  compliance.  These  untoward  circum- 
stances, as  the  Commander-in-chief  had  foreseen,  were  perceived 
by  the  enemy,  and  he  determined  to  avail  himself  of  them  by  a 
vigorous  campaign  in  the  South. 

It  was  on  this  occasion  that  General  Washington,  in  a  letter 
to  a  friend  in  Virginia,  thus  expresses  himself:  "I  have  seen, 
without  despondency,  even  for  a  moment,  the  hours  which 
America  has  styled  her  gloomy  ones;  but  I  have  beheld  no  day, 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  127 

since  the  commencement  of  hostilities,  when  I  have  thought  her 
liberties  in  such  imminent  danger  as  at  present." 

He  afterwards  adds,  "let  this  voice,  my  dear  sir,  call  upon 
you,  Jefferson,  and  others.  Do  not,  from  a  mistaken  opinion, 
that  we  are  to  sit  down  under  our  vine,  and  under  our  own  fig 
tree,  let  our  hitherto  noble  struggle  end  in  ignominy.  Believe 
me,  when  I  tell  you,  there  is  danger  of  it.  I  have  pretty  good  rea- 
sons for  thinking  that  the  administration,  a  little  while  ago,  had 
resolved  to  give  the  matter  up,  and  negotiate  a  peace  with  us 
upon  almost  any  terms;  but  I  shall  be  much  mistaken,  if  they 
do  not  now,  from  the  present  state  of  our  currency,  dissentions, 
and  other  circumstances,  push  matters  to  the  utmost  extremity. 
Nothing,  I  am  sure,  will  prevent  it,  but  the  interruption  of 
Spain,  and  their  disappointed  hope  from  Russia." 

The  British  Commissioners,  who  conducted  the  war,  having 
determined  to  transfer  the  theatre  of  its  operations  to  the  South, 
Georgia  was  accordingly  invaded  in  the  latter  end  of  1778,  and 
reduced  to  submission.  While  the  British  were  following  up 
their  success  by  marching  into  South  Carolina,  General  Mat- 
thews made  a  descent  on  the  south-eastern  part  of  Virginia. 
But  the  object  of  this  incursion,  being  merely  plunder  and  the 
destruction  of  stores  and  shipping,  began  and  ended  in  the  month 
of  May,  before  Mr.  Jefferson's  administration  commenced.  From 
that  time,  until  1781,  Virginia  seems  not  to  have  been  the 
scene  of  active  hostilities,  and  the  military  duties  of  the  Gover- 
nor had  been  limited  to  the  raising  and  equipping  the  quota  of 
troops  which  the  state  was  required  to  furnish  to  the  general 
army — duties  of  no  very  easy  execution,  at  that  period;  but  in 
the  discharge  of  which,  Governor  Jefferson  appears  to  have 
exhibited  the  requisite  activity,  judgment,  and  decision. 

One  of  the  first  occasions  in  which  he  was  called  upon  to 
exercise  his  executive  functions,  was  to  retaliate  on  some  British 
prisoners  the  cruelties  they  were  said  to  have  stimulated  the 
Indians  to  perpetrate  on  the  western  frontier,  and  had  even 
practised  themselves. 

Some  time  in  the  previous  year,  an  expedition  had  been  pro- 
posed and  undertaken  by  George  Rogers  Clarke,  against  a  mili- 


128  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

tary  station  at  Vincennes,  on  the  Mississippi,  which,  now  a  part 
of  the  state  of  Illinois,  was  then  within  the  limits  of  the  original 
charter  of  Virginia.  Colonel  Hamilton,  the  British  Governor  of 
Detroit,  a  brave  and  skilful  officer,  had  made  himself  master 
of  this  fort  in  the  December  preceding;  and  having  repaired  the 
fortifications,  he  meant,  in  the  spring,  to  get  possession  of  Kas- 
kaskias,  another  fort;  and  when  joined  by  about  700  Indian  war- 
riors of  the  neighbouring  tribes,  to  penetrate  to  Fort  Pitt,  sweep- 
ing Kentucky  on  his  way;  and  he  thus  hoped  to  subjugate  all 
the  country  comprehended  under  the  name  of  West  Augusta. 
Clarke,  who  seems  to  have  been  endowed  with  every  military 
virtue  and  talent,  having  learnt  that  Hamilton  had  weakened 
his  garrison,  immediately  formed  the  daring  scheme  of  attack- 
ing him  in  Vincennes,  before  he  was  strengthened  by  his  Indian 
allies;  and  his  enterprise  was  crowned  with  complete  success. 
With  a  hundred  and  thirty  raw  unpractised  men,  such  as  he 
was  able  to  pick  up,  he  marched,  in  the  depth  of  winter,  through 
woods,  and  swamps,*  and  hostile  Indians,  to  the  fort  then  com- 
manded by  Colonel  Hamilton,  and  attacked  it  with  so  much 
vigour  that  the  garrison,  which  had  consisted  of  79  regulars, 
surrendered  themselves  prisoners  of  war.  Hamilton  and  two 
others  he  sent  through  Kentucky  to  Williamsburg,  and  they 
arrived  soon  after  Mr.  Jefferson  had  entered  on  the  duties  of  his 
office. 

It  appears  by  the  advice  of  the  council  on  the  subject  of 
these  prisoners,  that  according  to  the  papers  which  had  been 
sent  on  with  them,  Hamilton  had  incited  the  Indians  to  perpe- 
trate their  accustomed  cruelties,  without  distinction  of  age,  sex, 
or  condition;  that  his  treatment  of  American  prisoners  had  been 
inhuman;  and  that  he  had  offered  "standing  rewards  for  scalps," 
but  none  for  prisoners.  Charges  of  a  similar  character  were 
alleged  against  the  other  prisoners,  Dejean,  a  magistrate,  and 

*  The  difficulties  of  the  march  may  be  conjectured  from  the  fact,  that 
when  within  three  leagues  of  the  enemy,  it  took  them  five  days  to  cross 
a  piece  of  swampy  land  in  the  Wabash.  They  reached  the  fort  in  the 
evening,  and,  without  waiting  for  rest  or  refreshment,  immediately  made 
the  attack.  The  surrender  took  place  on  the  evening  of  the  next  day. 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  129 

Lamotte,  a  captain  of  volunteers;  in  consequence  of  which  evi- 
dence, and  the  general  ill-treatment  which  American  officers, 
when  in  captivity,  had  occasionally  experienced  from  the  ene- 
my, the  Governor,  by  the  advice  of  council,  ordered  that 
Hamilton  and  his  associates  should  be  put  in  irons,  confined  in 
the  dungeon  of  the  public  jail,  debarred  the  use  of  pen,  ink  and 
paper,  and  excluded  from  all  converse,  except  with  their  keeper. 
The  confinement  of  Governor  Hamilton  in  a  dungeon,  and  in 
irons,  was  soon  made  a  matter  of  complaint  by  General  Phillips, 
the  senior  officer  of  the  Convention  troops,  and  such  treatment 
was  alleged  to  be  equally  unwarranted  by  the  facts  of  this  case, 
and  by  the  usages  of  war  in  capitulations,  generally.  On 
the  17th  of  July,  Mr.  Jefferson  wrote  to  consult  General  Wash- 
ington on  this  point,  and  his  answer,  received  in  the  Governor's 
absence,  having  advised  a  more  lenient  course,  either  on  the 
ground  taken  by  General  Phillips,  or  on  principles  of  general 
policy,  the  irons  were  accordingly  taken  off  the  prisoners,  by 
order  of  the  council.  On  Governor  Jefferson's  return  to  Wil- 
liamsburg,  the  prisoners  were  offered  their  discharge  on  parole, 
on  their  engaging  not  to  say  or  do  any  thing  to  the  prejudice  of 
the  United  States.  As  they  refused  the  first  part  of  the  stipu- 
lation, and  insisted  on  "freedom  of  speech,"  they  were  retained 
in  jail.  Hamilton's  associates  afterwards  yielded,  and  gave  the 
parole  required,  but  he  himself,  persisting  in  his  first  refusal, 
continued  in  close  confinement.  Being  afterwards  advised  by 
General  Phillips  to  give  the  parole,  he  finally  complied.  In  the 
following  year  he  was  allowed  to  go  to  New  York.* 

*Now  that  the  feelings  of  national  enmity  have  disappeared  in  better 
natures  and  subsided  in  the  worst,  we  may  be  permitted  to  question  the 
justice  of  the  stigma  which  has  been  thus  publicly  affixed  to  the  character 
of  this  British  officer.  It  so  happened  that  in  my  early  youth  I  was  ac- 
quainted with  Governor  Hamilton,  and  occasionally  partaking  of  his 
hospitality ,  had  frequent  opportunities  of  seeing  and  knowing  him.  He  was 
born  in  Ireland,  was  an  educated,  well-bred  gentleman,  possessed  of  a  sol- 
dierly frankness  and  great  liberality;  and,  though  he  had  that  decision  and 
firmness  which  mark  the  military  man,  there  was  nothing  to  show  that 
he  wanted  humanity.  He  always  had  the  confidence  of  his  government, 
and,  after  the  war,  was  made  governor,  first  of  Bermuda,  and  afterwards 
VOL.  I.— 17 


130  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

The  course  pursued  towards  Hamilton  and  his  companions 
for  some  time  threatened  to  produce  embarrassment,  and  to 
aggravate  the  evils  of  captivity.  The  British  at  first  declared 
that  no  officers  of  the  Virginia  line  should  be  released  until  the 
case  of  Governor  Hamilton  was  adjusted:  and  they  proceeded 
to  execute  their  threats  on  Colonel  Willing,  who  was  further 
charged  with  great  cruelties  at  Natchez.  As  soon  as  informa- 
tion of  this  fact  was  received  by  the  executive  of  Virginia,  they 
stopped  a  flag  of  truce  which  was  on  the  eve  of  setting  sail  with 
British  prisoners  to  New  York.  In  October,  Governor  Jeffer- 
son wrote  to  Colonel  Mathews,  an  officer  of  the  Virginia  line, 
recently  a  prisoner  in  New  York,  and  then  at  Williamsburg  on 

of  Dominica.  It  may  then  be  fairly  presumed,  that,  in  inciting  the  Indians 
to  hostilities  against  the  United  States,  he  acted  under  the  orders  of  his 
superiors,  rather  than  from  the  impulse  of  any  sanguinary  or  vindictive 
feelings  of  his  own. 

The  above  inference  is  strengthened  by  the  following  circumstances. 
1.  The  despatches  of  Colonel  Clarke  make  no  mention  of  Hamilton's  ill- 
treatment  of  prisoners,  as  they  would  naturally  have  done  if  his  conduct 
had  been  as  atrocious  as  was  represented.  2.  The  charges  against  him 
were  always  denied  by  General  Phillips,  no  doubt  on  the  authority  of 
Hamilton.  3.  A  fact  stated  by  Colonel  Clarke  himself  is  inconsistent 
with  the  charge  that  Governor  Hamilton  "encouraged  the  Indians  more 
to  bring  in  scalps  than  prisoners,"  as  he  writes  that,  while  he  was  attack- 
ing the  fort,  an  Indian  party  came  in  with  two  prisoners.  4.  Because 
the  council,  in  their  order,  seem  to  be  influenced  by  the  general  conduct 
of  the  British  towards  American  prisoners  still  more  than  the  special 
acts  imputed  to  Hamilton.  5.  Because  I  remember  to  have  heard  him, 
in  a  conversation  with  a  gentleman,  then  a  member  of  Congress  from 
South  Carolina,  speak  in  terms  of  regret  and  reprobation  of  the  unjusti- 
fiable severities,  and  even  cruelties,  which  had  been  practised  in  the  war 
on  both  sides;  thereby  showing,  either  that  the  particular  charges  against 
him  were  not  true,  in  point  of  fact,  or  that  he  had  acted  in  obedience  to 
orders  which  he  disapproved. 

Governor  Jefferson,  however,  finds  ample  justification  in  the  course 
pursued  towards  Hamilton,  not  merely  from  his  wish  to  protect  the  peo- 
ple on  the  frontier,  whose  complaints  were  loud  against  Hamilton,  but 
because  he  acted  by  the  unanimous  advice  of  his  council,  and  because 
Hamilton  obstinately  refused  to  accept  his  parole  on  the  condition  requir- 
ed, but  insisted  on  "freedom  of  speech,"  which  was  not  to  be  permitted  to 
an  enemy,  one  of  whose  modes  of  warfare  ivas  to  excite  disaffection  in 
the  slaves. 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  131 

parole,  stating  the  grounds  of  the  severity  that  had  been  prac- 
tised towards  Hamilton,  and  denying  that  they  furnished  any 
ground  of  retaliation.  He  added  that  the  executive  of  Virginia 
would  pay  constant  attention  to  his  situation  and  that  of  his  fel- 
low prisoners,  and  that  the  British  officers  and  soldiers  who  were 
prisoners  were  pledges  for  their  safety.  The  Governor  at  the 
same  time  wrote  to  General  Washington,  inclosing  a  copy  of 
the  preceding  letter  to  Colonel  Mathews,  with  a  copy  of  the 
advice  of  council,  which  recommended  retaliation  on  the  British 
prisoners,  and  that  a  prison  ship  should  be  fitted  up  for  the 
purpose.  He  adds:  "I  am  afraid  I  shall  hereafter,  perhaps,  be 
obliged  to  give  your  excellency  some  trouble  in  aiding  me  to 
obtain  information  of  the  future  usage  of  our  prisoners.  I  shall 
give  immediate  orders  for  having  in  readiness  every  engine 
which  the  enemy  have  contrived  for  the  destruction  of  our  un- 
happy citizens  captured  by  them.  The  presentiment  of  these 
operations  is  shocking  beyond  expression.  I  pray  heaven  to 
avert  them:  but  nothing  in  this  world  will  do  it,*  but  a  proper 
conduct  of  the  enemy." 

On  the  28th  November,  he  again  wrote  to  General  Washing- 
ton on  the  same  subject,  and  requested  him  to  communicate  the 
treatment  which  Virginia  prisoners  received  from  the  British. 

Fortunately  for  the  cause  of  humanity,  and  the  national  cha- 
racter of  the  parties,  this  policy,  as  foolish  as  it  is  barbarous, 
was  not  permitted  to  proceed  further,  and  without  doubt  the 
course  pursued  by  the  executive  of  Virginia  contributed  to  ar- 
rest it. 

The  next  important  measure  which  engaged  the  attention  of 
Governor  Jefferson,  was  his  endeavour  to  extend  and  strengthen 
the  territorial  claims  of  Virginia  to  the  west.  After  Spain  un- 
dertook, in  1779,  to  be  the  mediator  between  the  belligerents, 
there  seemed  to  have  been  a  general  expectation  in  the  United 
States  that  peace  was  at  hand,  and  as  the  terms  uti  possidetis 
•were  deemed  probable,  Mr.  Jefferson,  with  a  view  of  securing 

*  This  passage  has  been  somewhat  varied  in  Gerardin's  continuation 
of  the  history  of  Virginia,  p.  358. 


J 


132  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

v/ the  right  of  Virginia  as  far  as  the  Mississippi,  employed  persons 
to  ascertain,  by  observation,  the  point  where  the  parallel  of  36° 
30',  the  southern  limit  of  Virginia,  intersected  that  river,  and 
to  measure  its  distance  from  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio.  As  soon 
as  the  order  was  executed,  Colonel  Clarke  was  directed  to  select 
a  strong  position  on  the  Mississippi,  near  the  southern  boundary 
of  Virginia;  there  to  establish  a  fort  and  garrison;  and,  in  the 
mean  time,  to  erect  forts  at  different  points  towards  the  great 
lakes,  which  would  answer  the  double  purpose  of  taking  posses- 
sion of  the  country,  and  of  affording  it  protection.  Fort  Jeffer- 
son, on  the  Mississippi,  now  within  the  limits  of  Kentucky,  was 
thus  erected.  This  measure  at  first  gave  offence  to  the  Chicka- 
saw  Indians,  but  on  hearing  an  explanation  of  its  motives  from 
Colonel  Clarke,  they  became  reconciled.  In  the  execution  of 
the  rest  of  this  duty,  in  a  country  occupied  by  Indian  tribes, 
Clarke  showed  that  his  judgment  and  address  was  equal  to  his 
enterprise,  by  his  succeeding  in  keeping  the  Indians  at  peace 
when  it  was  practicable,  and  in  playing  off  their  hostilities 
against  each  other  when  it  was  not. 

Although  the  claims  of  Virginia  to  the  country  north-west  of 
the  Ohio  was  thus  gaining  strength,  from  the  rights.jQJLcaiiqjiest 
in  addition  to  those  derived  from  her  original  charter,  they  were 
not  suffered  to  pass  undisputed  by  some  of  the  other  states,  who 
insisted  that  all  the  lands,  the  title  of  which  had  originally  been 
in  the  crown,  and  had  never  been  alienated,  were  the  common 
property  of  the  confederation,  by  the  right  of  conquest,  inas- 
much as  the  revolution  had  transferred  the  supreme  power  from 
the  British  sovereign  to  the  United  republic.  This  ground  was 
supported  with  great  earnestness  and  ingenuity  on  their  part, 
and  was  warmly  resisted  by  Virginia  in  a  spirited  remonstrance 
to  Congress  in  the  October  session  of  1779.  But  this  delicate 
question  was  happily  settled  by  a  voluntary  cession,  from  Vir- 
ginia to  the  United  States,  of  the  country  in  dispute,  on  certain 
conditions,  and  the  territory  thus  ceded  comprehends  the  three 
flourishing  states  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois,  which  already 
tain  more  than  twice  as  many  white  inhabitants  as  are  in 
state  which  ceded  them. 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  133 

Although,  during  the  chief  part  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  administra- 
tion, Virginia  was  not  the  theatre  of  the  war,  and  it  raged  far  to 
the  south  or  the  north  of  the  state,  it  must  not  on  that  account 
be  supposed  that  the  office  of  Governor  was  a  sinecure,  or  that 
it  did  not  afford  him  who  held  it  ample  opportunity  of  exhibiting 
the  talents  required  for  the  executive  functions  of  government. 
His  situation  called  for  the  constant  exerciseof  vigilance,forecast, 
judgment  and  decision,  if  in  nothing  else,  in  the  shifts  and  expe- 
dients it  was  necessary  to  resort  to  for  counteracting  the  difficul- 
ties, both  physical  and  moral,  which  the  states  then  encountered. 

Virginia  was  not  the  less  required  to  contribute  her  quota  to 
the  continental  armies,  because  the  enemy  was  not  within  her 
territory.  Sometimes  the  difficulty  of  compliance  consisted  in 
procuring  men,  at  others  ammunition,  or  clothing  or  arms,  and 
even  wagons  to  transport  them.  "The  want  of  money,"  as  he 
remarked,  "cramped  every  effort,"  and  it  was  to  be  supplied  by 
the  most  unpalatable  of  all  substitutes,  force — alluding  to  the 
practice  of  impressments.  The  difficulty  of  obtaining  wagons 
seems  surprising  at  this  time,  when  that  useful  vehicle  is  to  be 
met  with  in  such  numbers  on  all  the  high  roads,  unless  we  re- 
collect that  the  population,  little  more  than  half  what  it  is  at 
present,  was  confined  principally  to  the  country  below  the  falls 
of  the  rivers,  where  the  bulky  products  of  agriculture  are  car- 
ried to  market  chiefly  by  water.  This  inconvenience  is  fre- 
quently mentioned  in  his  letters  to  the  general  officers.* 

*Thus  to  General  Gates  he  writes,  in  August,  1780:— "Finding  that 
no  great  number  of  wagons  is  likely  to  return  to  us,  we  will  immediately 
order  as  many  more  to  be  bought  and  sent  on  as  soon  as  we  possibly  can. 
But,  to  prevent  too  great  expectations,  I  must  again  repeat,  that  I  fear 
no  great  number  can  be  got."  .  .  .  "Tents,  I  fear,  it  is  in  vain  to  expect, 
because  there  is  not  in  this  country  stuff  to  make  them.  We  have  agents 
and  commissioners  in  constant  pursuit  of  stuff,  but  hitherto  researches 
have  been  fruitless."  To  General  Stevens,  in  September,  he  says, 
"What  is  to  be  done  for  wagons  I  do  not  know.  We  have  not  one  shil- 
ling in  the  treasury  to  purchase  them.  We  have  ordered  an  active  quar- 
ter-master to  go  to  the  westward,  and  endeavour  to  purchase  on  credit, 
or  impress,  a  hundred  wagons  and  teams."  To  General  Washington, 
in  the  same  month,  "We  are  still  more  destitute  of  clothing,  tents  and 
wagons,  for  our  troops.  The  southern  army  sutlers  for  provisions,  which 
we  could  plentifully  supply,  were  it  possible  to  find  means  of  transpor- 
tation." 


134  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

The  commander-in-chief  of  the  state,  in  short,  instead  of 
being  confined  to  the  duties  of  a  general  superintendence,  suf- 
ficiently arduous  at  that  time,  was  compelled  to  descend  to 
those  of  a  quarter-master  and  commissary. 

The  following  letter  to  General  Stevens  is  characteristic  not 
only  of  the  very  embarrassing  circumstances  of  the  times,  but 
also  of  the  equality  with  which  they  were  borne  by  all  classes. 

Richmond,  September  15th,  1780. 
Sir, 

I  beg  leave  to  trouble  you  with  a  private  letter  on  a  little 
matter  of  my  own,  having  no  acquaintance  at  camp  with  whom 
I  can  take  that  liberty.  Among  the  wagons  impressed  for  the 
use  of  your  militia,  were  two  of  mine.  One  of  them  I  know  is 
safe,  having  been  on  its  way  from  hence  to  Hillsborough  at  the 
time  of  the  late  engagement.  The  other,  I  have  reason  to  be- 
lieve, was  on  the  field.  A  wagon  master,  who  says  he  was  near 
it,  informs  me  the  brigade  quarter-master  cut  out  one  of  my 
best  horses,  and  made  his  escape  on  him;  and  that  he  saw  my 
wagoner  loosening  his  own  horse  to  come  off,  but  the  enemy's 
horse  were  then  coming  up,  and  he  knows  nothing  further.  He 
was  a  negro  man,  named  Phill,  lame  in  one  arm  and  leg.  If 
you  will  do  me  the  favour  to  inquire  what  is  become  of  him, 
what  horses  are  saved,  and  to  send  them  to  me,  I  shall  be  much 
obliged  to  you.  The  horses  were  not  public  property,  as  they 
were  only  impressed,  and  not  sold.  Perhaps  your  certificate  of 
what  is  lost  may  be  necessary  to  me.  The  wagon  master  told 
me  that  the  public  money  was  in  my  wagon,  a  circumstance 
which  perhaps  may  aid  your  inquiries.  After  apologizing  for 
the  trouble,  I  beg  leave  to  assure  you  that  I  am,  with  great 
sincerity, 

Your  friend  and  servant, 

TH:  JEFFERSON. 

But  the  time  was  now  approaching  when  these  supplies, 
which  were  procured  with  so  much  difficulty  in  Virginia,  were 
wanted  to  defend  the  homes  and  firesides  of  her  own  citizens. 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  135 

On  the  22nd  of  October,  the  Governor  received  information 
that  a  British  fleet  had  made  its  appearance  in  the  Chesapeake, 
having  on  board  about  three  thousand  troops,  commanded  by 
General  Leslie:  that  eight  hundred  men  were  landed  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Portsmouth,  and  another  party  on  the  Bay  side  of 
Princess  Anne.  On  the  23d,  one  thousand  infantry  were  landed 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Hampton,  of  which  they  took  posses- 
sion. The  whole  force  was  afterwards  collected  at  Portsmouth. 
The  executive  lost  no  time  in  embodying  as  large  a  force  as 
they  could  arm,  but  the  number  that  could  be  properly  equipped 
was  very  inadequate  to  the  occasion.  Preparations  were  also 
made  for  the  immediate  removal  of  the  Convention  troops  into 
Maryland.  General  Lawson  having  just  enlisted  five  hundred 
volunteers  for  the  purpose  of  marching  to  the  relief  of  South 
Carolina,  this  force  was  put  in  requisition;  and  General  Stevens, 
moreover,  prepared  to  return  from  the  south  to  the  defence  of 
his  native  state. 

The  Governor  suggested  to  General  Washington,  on  the  3d 
of  November,  that  the  enemy  had  probably  come  with  an  ex- 
pectation of  meeting  with  Lord  Cornwallis  in  Virginia,  that  his 
precipitate  retreat  had  left  them  without  a  concerted  object, 
and  that  they  were  waiting  further  orders.  This  conjecture 
was  verified  a  few  days  afterwards,  by  an  intercepted  letter* 
from  General  Leslie  to  Lord  Cornwallis,  dated  the  4th  of  No- 
vember. 

Leslie,  having  been  disappointed  in  his  expectation  of  a  junc- 
tion with  Lord  Cornwallis,  in  Virginia,  suddenly  left  Portsmouth, 
and  re-embarked  for  South  Carolina. 

In  December,  the  gallant  Clarke  came  to  Richmond,  then 

*  Governor  Jefferson  gives  the  following  account  of  its  discovery: — "It 
was  taken  from  a  person  endeavouring  to  pass  through  the  country  from 
Portsmouth  towards  Carolina.  When  apprehended,  and  a  proposal 
made  to  search  him,  he  readily  consented  to  be  searched,  but,  at  the 
same  time,  was  observed  to  put  his  hand  into  his  pocket  and  carry  some- 
thing towards  his  mouth,  as  if  it  were  a  quid  of  tobacco:  it  was  examined, 
and  found  to  be  a  letter,  of  which  the  enclosed  is  a  copy,  written  on  silk 
paper,  rolled  up  in  gold-beater's  skin,  and  nicely  hid  at  each  end,  so  as 
not  to  be  larger  than  a  goose  quill." 


136  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

the  seat  of  government,  to  solicit  the  means  of  undertaking  his 
favourite  expedition  against  Detroit,  and  the  reasons  which  he 
urged  in  favour  of  the  enterprise  were  so  cogent,  that  it  received 
the  countenance  of  the  Executive.  As,  however,  the  requisite 
military  stores  were  not  to  be  had  in  Virginia,  the  Governor 
made  an  application  to  General  Washington  for  a  part  of  those 
deposited  at  Fort  Pitt;  but  before  any  further  measures  were 
taken,  the  whole  attention  and  resources  of  the  government 
were  again  demanded  for  the  more  imperious  purposes  of  self- 
defence. 

On  the  30th  of  December,  the  Governor  received  informa- 
tion that  twenty-seven  sail  of  vessels  were  seen  entering  the 
Capes  of  Virginia  the  day  preceding,  and  it  being  probable  that 
this  was  the  British  armament  which  General  Washington  had, 
early  in  the  month,  apprized  him  was  preparing  in  New  York, 
General  Nelson  was  immediately  despatched  to  the  lower  coun- 
try, and  vested  with  large  discretionary  powers  for  calling  out 
the  militia  and  otherwise  preparing  for  resistance,  according  to 
the  exigency  of  circumstances.  No  intelligence  was  received 
on  that  day,  but  on  the  day  after,  it  being  ascertained  that  the 
fleet  were  proceeding  up  James  River,  the  Governor  made  a 
requisition  of  half  of  the  militia  from  the  neighbouring  counties 
to  attend.  On  the  same  day  the  Legislature  rose. 

As  the  success  and  impunity  of  this  predatory  incursion  have 
furnished  Mr.  Jefferson's  enemies  with  a  copious  theme  of  cen- 
sure, its  details  are  given  with  a  minuteness  which  the  occasion 
would  not  otherwise  deserve.  The  facts  were  published  under 
his  sanction,  and  have  never  been  contradicted. 

On  the  3d  of  January,  the  fleet  came  to  anchor  at  James 
Town,  and  on  the  4th,  it  reached  Westover,  where  about 
900  men,  but  then  supposed  to  be  a  much  larger  force,  landed, 
under  the  command  of  the  notorious  Arnold,  and  proceeded  on 
their  march  towards  Richmond.  Until  then,  it  was  not  known 
whether  that  town  or  Petersburg  was  the  object  of  attack. 
The  Governor,  on  the  same  day,  called  out  the  -whole  of  the 
militia  from  the  adjacent  counties,  but  having  no  means  of  pre- 
sent resistance,  he  endeavoured  to  secure  that  part  of  the  public 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  137 

property  which  could  be  removed,  by  having  it  transported  to  the 
south  bank  of  James  River.  Such  of  it  as  had  been  previously 
sent  to  Westham,  six  miles  above  Richmond,  was  also  ordered 
to  cross  the  river.  That  night  the  enemy  encamped  at  Four- 
mile  Creek,  twelve  miles  below  Richmond.  At  half  after  seven 
o'clock,  at  night,  the  Governor  set  out  for  Westham,  and,  having 
stopped  to  hasten  the  transportation  of  the  arms  and  stores,  he 
proceeded  to  join  his  family  at  Tuckahoe,  eight  miles  farther, 
which  place  he  reached  after  midnight. 

The  next  morning,  having  taken  his  family  across  the  river, 
and  sent  them  to  a  place  of  safety,  he  rode  down  to  Britton's, 
opposite  to  Westham,  and  gave  further  orders  concerning  the 
public  property;  the  transportation  of  which  had  been  continued 
through  the  whole  night,  and  part  of  the  next  day,  until  the 
approach  of  the  enemy.  He  then  proceeded  to  Manchester, 
from  whence  he  had  a  full  view  of  the  invading  force.  They 
had  reached  Richmond  at  one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  that 
day,  at  which  time  there  were  only  200  militia,  including  those 
of  the  town,  embodied. 

The  Governor  wishing  to  advise  with  Baron  Steuben,  then 
commanding  the  new  levies  in  the  state,  intended  for  the  South, 
and  which  then  amounted  to  200  recruits,  went  to  Chetwood's, 
his  head-quarters,  a  few  miles  from  Manchester,  but  learning 
he  was  at  Colonel  Fleming's,  the  Governor  proceeded  to  that 
place,  where  he  continued  that  night.  While  there,  some  of  the 
citizens  of  Richmond  waited  on  him,  to  tender  an  offer  from 
Arnold  not  to  burn  the  town,  provided  British  vessels  were  per- 
mitted to  come  to  it  unmolested,  and  take  off  the  tobacco  there 
deposited.  The  offer  was  unhesitatingly  rejected.  As  soon  as 
Arnold  reached  Richmond,  he  sent  a  detachment  under  Colonel 
Simcoe  to  destroy  the  cannon  foundry,  above  the  town,  which 
having  done,  they  advanced  to  Westham;  but  finding  that  all 
the  public  property  sent  thither  had  been  transported  over  the 
river,  they  returned  to  Richmond  the  same  day.  On  the  6th, 
the  Governor  returned  to  Britton's,  and  having  given  orders 
respecting  the  public  archives,  rejoined  his  family  in  the  eve- 
ning at  Fine  Creek.  The  British,  after  burning  some  public 

VOL.  I.-18 


138  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

and  some  private  buildings,  as  well  as  a  large  quantity  of  tobacco, 
left  Richmond  about  twenty-four  hours  after  they  entered  it, 
encamped  at  Fourmile  Creek,  and  on  the  7th,  at  Berkley  and 
Westover;  having  thus  penetrated  thirty-three  miles  into  the 
country  from  the  place  of  debarkation;  and  completed  their 
incursion,  without  loss,  in  forty-eight  hours  from  the  time  of 
their  landing.  On  the  7th,  the  Governor  went  to  Manchester, 
where  he  remained  that  night,  and  the  next  day  returned  to 
Richmond. 

On  the  evening  of  the  8th,  the  enemy  detached  a  party 
of  horse  to  Charles  City  Court  House,  where  they  surprised  150 
militia,  of  whom  they  killed  one,  wounded  three,  and  took  seven 
or  eight  prisoners.  On  the  9th,  they  embarked  their  cavalry; 
on  the  10th,  their  infantry,  and  began  to  descend  the  river. 

The  operations  of  the  enemy  were  not  confined  to  James 
River.  Another  detachment  had  ascended  the  Appomatox,  as 
far  as  Broadway,  but  were  there  met  by  General  Smallwood, 
with  two  or  three  hundred  militia,  and  compelled  to  retreat. 
In  the  mean  time,  the  militia  were  collecting  on  both  sides  of 
James  River,  under  the  direction  of  Baron  Steuben;  and  it  was 
hoped  that  the  enemy  might  be  cut  off  on  their  retreat,  or  at 
least  be  greatly  annoyed;  but  the  wind  which  had  favoured 
their  ascent,  was  equally  propitious  to  them  on  their  return. 
George  Rogers  Clarke  volunteered  his  services  on  the  occasion, 
and  almost  the  only  annoyance  received  by  the  British  in  this 
incursion  was  from  him.  On  the  evening  of  the  10th,  in  descend- 
ing the  river,  Arnold,  hearing  that  Baron  Steuben  was  posted 
in  the  neighbourhood,  landed  a  detachment  of  300  men  at 
Hood's,  under  Lieutenant-Colonel  Simcoe.  As  soon  as  Steuben, 
then  on  his  march  down  the  south  side  of  the  river,  and  within 
nine  miles  of  Hood's,  was  informed  of  their  landing,  he  despatched 
Colonel  Clarke  to  meet  them,  who  succeeded. in  decoying  a 
party  of  the  enemy  into  the  pursuit  of  a  small  number  of  his 
men,  purposely  exposed  to  their  view,  until  they  came  up  with 
his  main  body,  which,  by  a  single  tire,  killed  seventeen,  and 
wounded  thirteen;  but  the  British  pressing  on  with  fixed  bayo- 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON".  139 

nets,  and  Clarke's  men  being  unpractised  militia,  badly  armed, 
fled  in  confusion. 

Arnold  returned  to  Portsmouth  on  the  20th  of  January, 
intending  to  establish  himself  there;  and  by  the  arrival  of  three 
transports,  which  had  been  separated  from  him  in  a  storm,  his 
force  now  amounted  to  2000  men.  At  the  same  time,  the  mili- 
tia who  were  embodied,  amounted  to  about  4000,  divided  into 
three  encampments;  one  at  Fredericksburg,  under  General 
Weedon,  another  near  Williamsburg,  under  General  Nelson, 
and  a  third  at  Cabin  Point,  under  Baron  Steuben. 

The  bare  communication  of  the  fact,  that  a  force  of  1000,  or 
at  most  1500  men,  was  able  to  invade  a  country,  containing  at 
that  time  a  population  of  more  than  half  a  million,  and  50,000 
enrolled  militia;  march  to  its  metropolis;  destroy  all  the  public 
and  much  of  the  private  property  found  there,  and  in  its  neigh- 
bourhood; and  to  leave  the  country  with  impunity,  is,  at  first, 
calculated  to  excite  our  surprise,  and  to  involve  both  the  peo- 
ple and  those  who  administered  its  affairs  in  one  indiscriminate 
reproach.  But  there  seems  to  be  little  ground  for  either  won- 
der or  censure,  when  it  is  recollected  that  these  50,000  militia 
were  scattered  over  a  surface  of  more  than  as  many  square 
miles;  that  the  metropolis,  which  was  thus  insulted,  was  but  a 
village  containing  scarcely  1800  inhabitants,  half  of  whom  were 
slaves;  and  that  the  country  itself,  intersected  by  several  navi- 
gable rivers,  could  not  be  defended  against  the  sudden  incur- 
sions of  an  enemy  whose  naval  power  gave  it  the  entire  command 
of  the  water,  and  enabled  it  to  approach  within  a  day's  march 
of  the  point  of  attack. 

In  these  details,  it  is  not  seen  how  Mr.  Jefferson  could  have 
acted  otherwise  than  he  did,  unless  he  had,  on  receiving  the 
information  from  General  Washington,  immediately  called  out 
the  militia.  His  reasons  for  not  doing  this,  are  thus  stated  by 
Mr.  Gerardin,*  and  it  is  believed,  under  Mr.  Jefferson's  direct 
authority:  "Intimations  of  a  similar  nature  from  the  comman- 
der-in-chief,  or  Congress,  had  for  some  time  past  been  almost 

*  History  of  Virginia,  chap.  viii. 


140  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

constantly  hanging  over  the  heads  of  the  Governor  and  Council. 
It  had,  therefore,  become  necessary  for  them  to  determine 
whether  such  intimations  should  be  considered  as  sufficient 
ground,  at  all  times,  for  calling  the  militia  into  the  field,  or  that 
measures  should  be  adopted  only  in  the  event  of  actual  invasion. 
The  financial  embarrassments  of  the  country,  the  ideas,  habits, 
and  dispositions  of  the  people,  decided  in  favour  of  the  latter. 
A  standing  army  of  militia  was  deemed  inexpedient,  if  not  im- 
practicable. Economy  was  now  more  necessary  than  ever,  and 
inattention  to  it  in  the  beginning,  had  gone  far  towards  that 
ruin  of  the  public  finances,  which  strenuous  and  well-directed 
efforts  might  yet  retrieve.  At  the  same  time  the  executive, 
thus  warned  by  the  commander-in-chief  of  a  blow  which  might 
be  aimed  at  them,  awaited  with  watchful  anxiety  the  full  de- 
velopment of  the  enemy's  views,  resolved  to  act  according  as 
circumstances  should  require." 

The  difficulty  of  collecting  a  large  body  of  militia,  and  still 
more  of  keeping  them  in  the  field,  has  always  been  found  to  be 
very  great,  whenever  the  experiment  has  been  tried;  and  it 
was  the  greater  on  the  present  occasion,  in  consequence  of  the 
recent  alarm  from  Leslie's  incursion,  and  the  ineffectual  at- 
tempts then  made,  even  after  the  enemy  was  at  their  doors, 
to  embody  any  large  force.  Nor  is  it  without  reason  that  the 
same  writer  remarks,  "had  even  the  greater  part  of  the  popu- 
lation of  Virginia  been  sufficiently  armed,  it  is  doubtful  whether 
all  her  assailable  points  could  have  been  secured  from  insult 
and  injury,  against  an  enemy  in  full  possession  of  the  command 
of  the  water.  With  an  empty  treasury,  with  scarcely  any 
arms,  with  a  formidable  combination  to  oppose  in  the  west,  an 
advancing  foe  to  meet  in  the  south,  and  continual  demands  on 
her  resources  to  answer  in  the  north,  it  is  no  matter  of  surprise 
that  she  should  not  be  fully  prepared  to  repel  this  new  invader 
from  the  east." 

In  addition  to  these  arguments  we  may  adduce  the  respect- 
able testimony  of  the  biographer  of  General  Green,  who  thus 
vindicates  Mr.  Jefferson  from  the  injustice  which  had  been  done 
him  as  Governor  of  Virginia:  "Never  did  an  officer  of  the 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  141 

United  States  experience  more  cordial  and  zealous  support  than 
that  which  Green  received  at  this  time  from  Governor  Jefferson. 
That  the  Governor's  office  in  another  quarter  should  have  been 
less  ready,  less  judicious,  or  less  efficient,  it  is  difficult  to  con- 
ceive. Every  requisition  of  the  commanding  general  was  prompt- 
ly complied  with,  the  militia  of  the  neighbouring  counties  or- 
dered into  the  field,  and  several  active  and  spirited  measures 
pursued  for  replenishing  Washington's  corps  of  horse.  Indeed, 
it  is  a  well  known  fact,  that  his  popularity  was  at  this  time 
greatly  affected  by  charges  of  his  having  done  too  much;  and 
if  we  suppose  his  efforts  in  other  quarters  to  have  been  met 
with  the  same  querulous  spirit,  it  is  not  difficult  to  assign  a 
cause  why  there  was  not  sufficient  preparations  made  for  re- 
pelling the  incursions  of  Ajrnojd." 

The  capture  of  this  arch  traitor  had  been  a  favourite  object 
in  America,  from  the  time  of  his  defection;  and  two  modes  of  ^ 
getting  possession  of  his  person  had  been  suggested.  One,  by  a 
few  individuals,  who,  making  a  sudden  incursion  into  his  camp, 
might  secure  him,  and  carry  him  off;  and  the  other,  by  block- 
ading him  both  by  sea  and  land,  and  thus  compelling  a  surren- 
der of  his  whole  force.  Mr.  Jefferson,  conceiving  that  while  he 
was  stationed  at  Portsmouth  the  first  plan  might  be  practicable, 
wrote  to  General  Muhlenburg  to  select  men  for  that  purpose, 
and  at  the  same  time  offer  them  a  reward  of  five  thousand 
guineas  in  the  event  of  success.  But  Arnold's  circumspection 
made  the  scheme  impracticable.  The  same  plan  had  previously 
suggested  itself  to  General  Washington,  and  was  attempted,  but 
failed. 

The  other  plan  was  also  attempted  by  him,  while  Arnold 
was  at  Portsmouth,  but  was  attended  with  no  better  success. 
The  French  fleet  was  then  in  Newport,  Rhode  Island,  and  re- 
tained there  by  the  superiority  of  the  British  naval  force  lying 
at  the  east  end  of  Long  Island.  But  several  of  the  British  ships 
having  been  destroyed  in  a  tempest,  a  favourable  opportunity 
was  presented  for  the  French  fleet  to  come  out  and  co-operate 
with  the  militia  in  capturing  the  forces  at  Portsmouth,  of  which 
General  Washington  urged  the  French  commander  to  take  ad- 


142  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

vantage  with  his  whole  force.  But  Admiral  Destouches,  having 
been  misinformed  on  this  point,  thought  proper  to  send  only  a 
detachment  of  his  force,  which  was  inadequate  to  the  object;  and 
the  English  fleet  being  refitted  soon  afterwards,  it  was  not  safe  for 
Destouches  to  venture  out.  But  he  being  subsequently  rejoined 
by  the  squadron  first  sent  out.  it  was  determined  to  repeat  the 
attempt  with  the  whole  fleet,  and  they  accordingly  left  Newport 
on  the  8th  of  March.  They  were  overtaken  by  Arbuthnot 
with  the  British  fleet  off  Cape  Henry,  with  which  they  had  an 
engagement,  that  made  it  expedient  to  return  to  Newport: 
and  thus  was  this  second  attempt  defeated. 

On  the  26th  March,  General  Phillips  joined  Arnold  at  Ports- 
mouth with  two  thousand  troops,  and  took  the  command,  to  the 
great  relief  of  the  army,  who  felt  no  respect  for  Arnold.  At 
this  time  the  state  of  Virginia  was  lamentably  deficient  in  the 
means  of  defence.  There  were,  indeed,  men  enough  for  the 
occasion,  but  the  means  of  arming  and  equipping  them  were 
unattainable.  There  were  neither  arsenals,  nor  the  means  of 
manufacturing  either  arms  or  ammunition.  In  a  letter  from  the 
Governor  to  the  Virginia  delegation  in  Congress  he  writes, 
January  the  18th,  1781:  "If  there  be  a  rock  on  which  we  are  to 
split,  it  is  the  want  of  muskets,  bayonets,  and  cartouch  boxes;" 
and  to  General  Washington  on  the  8th  February:  "The  fatal 
want  of  arms  puts  it  out  of  our  power  to  bring  a  greater  force 
into  the  field  than  will  barely  suffice  to  restrain  the  adventures 
of  the  pitiful  body  of  men  they  have  at  Portsmouth."  Hitherto 
the  want  of  money  had  been  supplied  by  the  ready  expedient 
of  paper;  but  this  paper  being  unredeemed,  and,  consequently, 
constantly  increasing  in  quantity,  was  as  constantly  decreasing 
in  value;  and  now  the  depreciation  had  become  so  great,  and 
increased  so  rapidly,  that  the  public  revenue  was  far  in  the 
rear  of  the  public  necessities,  and  the  treasury  was  in  a  fair  way 
to  be  soon  exhausted. 

In  this  state  of  imbecility,  as  well  known  to  the  enemy  as  to 
themselves,  Phillips  and  Arnold  ascended  James  River  on  the 
18th  of  April,  with  2500  men.  They  landed  below  Williams- 
burg,  which  they  entered  on  the  20th,  and  destroyed  some  pub- 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  143 

lie  property  there,  at  York,  and  other  places  in  the  vicinity, 
re-embarked  on  the  22nd,  and  on  the  24th  they  landed  at  City 
Point,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Appomatox,  and  the  next  day 
marched  up  to  Petersburg.  They  here  met  with  a  check  from 
Steubcn  with  1000  men,  but  he  was  compelled  to  retreat 
twelve  miles,  and  wait  for  reinforcements.  At  Petersburg  they 
destroyed  a  large  quantity  of  tobacco  there  deposited,  and  some 
small  vessels.  Then  dividing  their  forces,  Phillips  marched  to 
Chesterfield  Court  House,  where  he  destroyed  the  barracks, 
and  some  flour;  while  Arnold  proceeded  to  Osborne's,  where  he 
destroyed  the  tobacco  there  deposited.  A  small  marine  force 
was  stationed  in  the  river,  but  finding  it  was  about  to  be  attacked 
by  artillery,  the  crews  set  fire  to  the  vessels,  and  escaped  to 
the  opposite  bank.  At  Warwick,  Phillips  and  Arnold  again 
united  their  forces,  and  marched  to  Manchester,  where  they 
destroyed  a  large  quantity  of  tobacco.  They  would  have  crossed 
over  to  Richmond,  had  not  the  arrival  of  La  Fayette  there  the 
day  before  deterred  them.  They  then  returned  to  Warwick, 
where  they  destroyed  the  tobacco,  the  warehouses  which  con- 
tained it,  several  mills,  a  rope-yard,  together  with  the  flour  and 
shipping  they  found  there. 

From  Warwick  they  descended  the  river,  but  when  they  had 
proceeded  below  Burwell's  Ferry,  in  consequence  of  tidings 
received  from  Portsmouth,  they  re-ascended  the  river  as  far  as 
Brandon,  where  the  army  disembarked  on  the  7th  of  May,  and 
on  the  9th  marched  into  Petersburg.  La  Fayette,  who  was  sta- 
tioned between  Chickahominy  and  Pamunkey  rivers,  having 
apprehended  that  Richmond  was  the  object  of  attack,  imme- 
diately repaired  thither  for  its  defence.  When,  however,  the 
British  landed  at  Brandon,  conjecturing  that  a  junction  was  to 
be  effected  between  Cornwallis  and  Phillips  at  Petersburg,  he 
continued  his  march  to  that  town,  but  found  it,  on  his  approach, 
in  the  possession  of  the  enemy.  His  force  being  inferior,  he 
marched  back  to  James  River,  which  he  re-crossed  at  Wilton. 
No  time  was  lost  in  removing  the  military  stores  at  Richmond 
to  different  points  higher  up  the  river,  but  principally  to  Albe- 
marle  Old  Court  House.  La  Fayette  determined  to  remain  on 


144  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

the  north  side  of  James  River,  until  he  should  be  reinforced  by 
accessions  of  Virginia  militia,  and  by  some  troops  from  Penn- 
sylvania which  he  had  reason  to  expect. 

It  having  been  a  common  practice  with  the  British  to  attempt 
to  lay  the  inhabitants  of  the  country  through  which  they 
marched  under  parole,  whereby  they  aimed  to  take  away  all 
means  of  future  resistance,  the  Governor  issued  a  proclamation, 
requiring  those  persons  who  had  given  such  paroles,  "to  repair 
to  some  of  the  posts  or  vessels  of  the  enemy,  and  by  surrender 
of  their  persons  to  cancel  such  engagements;  and  not  to  rejoin 
the  Commonwealth  until  they  were  free  to  act  as  becomes 
good  citizens."  This  produced,  to  a  great  extent,  the  desired 
effect. 

During  this  invasion,  a  question  of  etiquette  arose  between 
Governor  Jefferson  and  General  Phillips,  which  is  no  otherwise 
important  except  as  it  throws  light  on  the  character  of  the 
parties,  and  the  temper  with  which  the  war  was  conducted. 
The  Governor,  having  only  the  copy  of  a  passport  for  a  vessel 
allowed  to  carry  supplies  to  those  Virginians  who  were  prison- 
ers in  Charleston,  wrote  to  General  Phillips  for  an  original 
passport.  The  General  directed  his  answer,  "To  Thomas  Jef- 
ferson, Esq.,  American  Governor  of  Virginia."  Mr.  Jefferson, 
unwilling  that  the  prisoners  should  suffer  from  a  mere  point  of 
punctilio,  opened  the  letter;  but  took  occasion  soon  afterwards, 
in  writing  to  Phillips  in  a  case  in  which  their  relative  situations 
were  reversed,  to  address  him  as  ''William  Phillips,  Esq.,  Com- 
manding the  British  forces  in  the  Commonwealth  of  Virginia."  He, 
at  the  same  time,  wrote  to  Captain  Gerlach,  the  flag  master, 
that  the  Convention  troops  in  Virginia,  "should  perish  for  want 
of  necessaries,  before  any  should  be  carried  to  them  through 
this  state,  till  General  Phillips  either  swallowed  this  pill  of 
retaliation,  or  made  an  apology  for  his  rudeness."  By  the  death 
of  this  officer  soon  afterwards,  the  command  again  devolved  on 
Arnold,  who  retained  it  until  it  was  superseded  by  Lord  Corn- 
wallis's  arrival  at  Petersburg. 

The  necessity  of  making  further  preparations  for  the  public 
defence,  and  an  exhausted  treasury,  induced  the  Governor  to 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  145 

convene  the  Assembly  on  the  1st  of  March.  In  his  opening 
message,  after  a  disclosure  of  the  public  necessities,  he  gave  a 
detailed  account  of  the  recent  invasion.  The  Legislature  made 
provision  for  raising  two  legions,  of  six  companies  of  infantry 
and  one  troop  of  horse,  each.  They  subjected  the  militia  to  the 
rules  of  the  Continental  service,  and  martial  law  was  established 
within  twenty  miles  of  the  American  and  the  British  camp. 
The  Governor  was  empowered  to  call  out  such  numbers  of  the 
militia  as  should  be  required;  to  make  impressments  of  provi- 
sions, horses,  boats;  and  to  apprehend  disaffected  persons;  and 
additional  encouragement  was  given  to  the  recruiting  service. 
But  it  was  found  necessary  to  resort  to  further  emissions  of 
paper,  and  accordingly  the  Treasurer  was  authorized  to  issue 
twenty  millions  of  dollars  in  bills,  redeemable  in  1792,  and  the 
Governor,  five  millions  more.  But  conscious  of  the  insufficiency 
of  this  expedient,  the  law  had  allowed  a  certain  quantity  of  to- 
bacco to  each  officer,  in  lieu  of  salary.  The  legislature  then 
adjourned  to  the  7th  of  May;  but  in  consequence  of  the  danger 
with  which  Richmond  was  threatened  by  Phillips  and  Arnold, 
they  on  the  10th  of  May  adjourned  to  the  24th,  to  meet  at  the 
village  of  Charlottesville. 

Lord  Cornwallis,  having  crossed  James  River,  at  Westover, 
was,  on  the  26th  of  May,  proceeding  towards  Richmond,  then 
occupied  by  La  Fayette,  with  300  men,  militia  included.  The 
force  of  the  enemy  was  estimated  at  7000  men.  Mr.  Jefferson 
writes  to  General  Washington  on  the  28th:  "A  number  of  pri- 
vateers on  the  rivers  prevent  us  from  receiving  any  aid  from  the 
counties  lying  on  navigable  waters;  and  powerful  operations 
meditated  against  our  western  frontier,  by  a  joint  force  of  Bri- 
tish and  Indian  savages,  have,  as  your  Excellency  before  knew, 
obliged  us  to  embody  between  two  and  three  thousand  men  in 
that  quarter."  And  regarding  the  situation  of  the  state  as  one 
of  great  danger,  he  adds:  "Were  it  possible  for  this  circumstance 
to  justify  in  your  Excellency  a  determination  to  lend  us  your 
personal  aid,  it  is  evident,  from  the  universal  voice,  that  the 
presence  of  their  beloved  countryman,  whose  talents  have  so 
long  been  successfully  employed  in  establishing  the  freedom  of 
VOL.  I.— 19 


146  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

kindred  states,  to  whose  person  they  have  still  flattered  them- 
selves they  retained  some  right,  and  have  ever  looked  up,  as 
their  dernier  resort  in  distress,  would  restore  full  confidence  of 
salvation  to  our  citizens,  and  would  render  them  equal  to  what- 
ever was  not  impossible." 

In  this  letter,  he  signifies  his  intention  of  retiring  from  the 
office  of  Governor,  in  pursuance  of  a  long  declared  resolution. 
A  number  of  the  members  of  the  Legislature,  sufficient  to  elect 
a  speaker,  did  not  attend  until  this  day;  and  three  days  after- 
wards his  office  expired.  He  states  in  his  Memoirs  that  he 
resigned,  or  rather  declined  a  re-election,  "from  a  belief,  that 
under  the  pressure  of  the  existing  invasion,  the  public  would 
have  more  confidence  in  a  military  chief,  and  that  the  military 
commander  being  invested  with  the  civil  power  also,  both  might 
be  wielded  with  more  energy,  promptitude  and  effect,  for  the 
defence  of  the  state." 

La  Fayette,  unable  to  contend  with  the  superior  force  under 
Cornwallis,  marched  to  the  upper  country,  as  soon  as  the  ene- 
my had  crossed  James  River.  But  Lord  Cornwallis,  having  pro- 
vided his  army  with  a  great  number  of  the  best  horses  in  Vir- 
ginia, relied  so  much  on  being  able  to  overtake  La  Fayette,  by 
the  means  of  rapid  movement  thus  furnished,  that  he  wrote  to 
a  friend  in  England,  "the  boy  cannot  escape  me."  Having, 
however,  penetrated  into  the  interior,  without  coming  nearer 
the  American  army,  he  abandoned  the  pursuit,  and  turned  his 
attention  to  minor  objects.  One  of  these  was  the  destruction 
of  the  military  stores  deposited  at  the  Point  of  Fork,  fifty  miles 
above  Richmond;  and  another,  was  an  attempt  to  capture  the 
members  of  the  Legislature,  then  sitting  in  Charlottesville,  and 
to  seize  on  the  person  of  the  Governor.  The  two  last  objects 
were  confided  to  Colonel  Tarlton,  with  250  men;  and  so  rapid 
were  his  motions,  that,  but  for  an  accident,  he  must  have  suc- 
ceeded. A  gentleman  who  was  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
British  army,  and  who  suspected  Tarlton's  object,  was  able,  by 
means  of  a  fleet  horse,  and  a  nearer  road,  to  give  two  hours 
notice  of  his  approach.*  As  it  was,  all  the  members  of  the 

*  Another  accident  contributed  to  defeat  Colonel  Tarlton's  purpose. 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  147 

Assembly,  except  seven,  effected  their  escape,  and  re-assembled 
on  the  7th  of  June,  at  Staunton,  about  forty  miles  west  of 
Charlottesville.  Tarlton,  hearing  that  there  were  many  gen- 
tlemen of  the  lower  country  then  at  the  houses  of  Dr.  Walker, 
and  Mr.  John  Walker,  which  lay  near  his  route,  for  a  mo- 
ment lost  sight  of  his  principal  object,  and  resolved  to  make 
them  prisoners.  He  accordingly  divided  his  force,  and  sent  a 
part  to  Mr.  John  Walker's,  while  he  himself  stopped  at  the 
house  of  Dr.  Walker.  Several  gentlemen  were  here  made 
captives. 

When  Tarlton  approached  within  ten  miles  of  Charlottes- 
ville, he  detached  a  party  of  horse,  under  captain  M'Leod,  to 
Monticello,  to  seize  Mr.  Jefferson.  But  he  had,  about  sunrise, 
received  the  intelligence  of  Tarlton's  approach.  Several  mem- 
bers of  the  Legislature,  including  the  speakers  of  both  houses, 
were  then  his  guests,  and  they  hastened  to  Charlottesville  to 
adjourn  the  Legislature.  Mrs.  Jefferson  and  her  three  children 
hurried  off  in  a  carriage  to  Colonel  Edward  Carter's,  about 
six  miles  to  the  south.  Mr.  Jefferson  followed  afterwards  on 
horseback,  and  had  not  left  his  house  ten  minutes  before  the 
British  entered  it.  His  property,  books,  and  papers,  were  all 
respected,  with  the  exception  of  the  waste  which  was  commit- 
ted in  his  cellars,  by  a  few  of  the  men,  without  the  knowledge 
of  the  commanding  officer.  Tarlton  entered  Charlottesville  on 
the  4th  of  June,  four  days  after  Mr.  Jefferson's  term  of  office 
expired.  He,  on  the  next  day,  rejoined  Lord  Cornwallis,  who 
had  established  his  head-quarters  at  Elk  Hill,  a  plantation  near 

The  following  facts  are  stated  on  the  authority  of  a  gentleman  who 
received  them  from  Dr.  Walker  himself.  On  Tarlton's  arrival  at  his 
house,  he  had  ordered  breakfast  to  be  prepared  for  the  Colonel  and  the 
officers;  but  the  operations  of  the  cook  appearing  to  be  unusually  tardy, 
and  his  guest  manifesting  great  impatience,  he  went  to  the  kitchen 
himself  to  inquire  the  cause  of  the  delay;  and  was  there  told  by  the  cook 
that  he  was  then  engaged  in  preparing  the  third  breakfast,  the  two  first 
having  been  taken  from  him  by  some  of  Colonel  Tarlton's  men;  on  which 
the  Doctor  told  his  guest,  that  if  he  wished  for  breakfast,  he  must  place 
a  guard  of  soldiers  to  protect  the  cook,  which  was  accordingly  done.  The 
time  that  was  thus  lost,  it  appeared,  on  comparing  notes  afterwards, 
eaved  the  delegates  from  capture. 


148  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

the  Point  of  Fork  belonging  to  Mr.  Jefferson.  Here  every  sort 
of  wanton  mischief  was  perpetrated.  Besides  making  a  free 
use  of  the  cattle,  and  carrying  off  all  the  horses  fit  for  service, 
as  was  to  be  expected,  the  throats  of  the  young  horses  were 
cut,  the  growing  crops  of  corn  and  tobacco  were  destroyed, 
those  of  the  preceding  year,  together  with  the  barns  which 
contained  them,  and  all  the  fences  on  the  plantation  were 
burnt.  Other  plantations  shared  a  similar  fate,  though  not  to 
the  same  extent.  Thirty  thousand  slaves  were  taken  from 
Virginia  by  the  British  in  these  invasions,  of  whom  twenty -seven 
thousand  were  computed  to  have  died  of  the  small  pox,  or  camp 
fever.  The  whole  amount  of  property  carried  off  and  destroyed, 
during  the  six  months  preceding  Cornwallis's  surrender,  has 
been  estimated  at  3,000,000/.  sterling. 


149 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Public  discontents  in  Virginia.  Clamours  against  Governor  Jefferson. 
He  is  threatened  with  impeachment.  The  charges  against  him  can- 
vassed. His  vindication.  Writes  the  notes  on  Virginia.  Character 
of  that  icork.  Is  elected  to  the  Legislature.  Invites  an  investigation 
into  his  conduct.  The  Legislature  unanimously  vote  him  their  thanks. 
Is  apointed  an  Envoy  to  negotiate  peace.  Declines.  The  death  of 
Mrs.  Jefferson.  His  appointment  renewed  and  accepted.  His  em- 
barkation prevented  by  the  news  of  peace.  Is  elected  to  Congress. 
Recommends  a  common  money  of  account — adopted  by  Congress. 
Plan  of  a  standing  Executive  Committee— its  failure.  General 
Washington  resigns  his  command.  Abuses  of  debate  in  deliberative 
bodies.  Debate  on  the  ratification  of  the  Treaty  of  Peace — its  final 
ratification.  The  committees  of  which  he  was  a  member.  His  report 
on  the  foreign  relations  of  the  United  States.  The  Cincinnati  Asso- 
ciation— it  becomes  an  object  of  jealousy.  General  Washington  con- 
sults Mr.  Jefferson  on  this  subject.  His  views.  Its  dissolution. 
1781—1784. 

THE  depredations  of  the  enemy,  vexatious  and  often  ruin- 
ous to  individuals,  produced  the  ordinary  effect  of  complaint 
against  those  who  had  charge  of  the  public  defence,  and  espe- 
cially against  the  Governor.  He  was  held  accountable  for  the 
national  loss  and  disgrace,  which  were  mainly  attributable  to 
the  state  of  the  country,  and  for  which  the  blame,  if  any  was 
merited,  ought  to  have  been  shared  by  all.  The  Legislature, 
which  met  in  Staunton,  smarting  under  the  mortification  of 
being  twice  driven  from  their  place  of  sitting,  fell  in  with  the 
popular  clamour,  and,  under  the  feelings  of  the  moment,  Mr. 
George  Nicholas,  a  member  from  Albemarle,  proposed  the  im- 
peachment of  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  a  day  was  appointed  at  the 
succeeding  session  for  a  hearing. 


150  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

The  proceedings  on  this  occasion  seems  to  have  been  conduct- 
ed very  loosely,  and  no  vote  was  taken  on  the  question  which 
might  indicate  the  sentiments  of  the  majority,  as  the  hearing 
was  appointed  with  the  concurrence  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  friends, 
to  give  him  an  opportunity  of  repelling  the  accusation. 

Mr.  Jefferson  has  suggested  that  this  measure  in  the  Legisla- 
ture was  connected  with  another  entertained  some  time  before, 
which  was  to  appoint  a  Dictator,  during  the  invasion  of  Corn- 
wallis;  that  the  project  was  supported  by  many  of  the  members; 
and  that  they  had  fixed  on  Governor  Henry  as  the  proper  per- 
son for  that  oftice.  This  fact  has  been  denied,  and  there  seems 
to  be  no  other  evidence  of  it  than  that  which  is  to  be  found  in 
the  recollections  of  the  rumours  of  the  day,  or  in  those  tradi- 
tionary accounts  which  have  a  similar  foundation;  yet,  it  hav- 
ing been  attested  by  several  who  were  members,  and  denied  by 
no  one  who  had  the  same  opportunity  of  knowing  the  fact,  it 
ought  not  now  to  be  questioned.  It  is  known  that  this  project 
had  been  previously  entertained  in  a  moment  of  disaster  and 
gloom,  in  the  latter  end  of  1776;  that  Mr.  George  Mason  went 
so  far  as  to  declare  in  the  house  of  Delegates,  that  "it  might  be 
necessary  to  give  unlimited  power  for  a  limited  time;"  and  that 
Mr.  Henry  was  believed  to  be  the  person  whom  its  supporters 
then  also  had  in  view'.  His  biographer  gives  countenance  to  the 
probability  of  both  these  projects,  and  only  denies  Mr.  Henry's 
agency  in  suggesting  them. 

Supposing  this  scheme  to  have  been  entertained  by  some  in- 
dividuals, there  seems  to  be  no  good  ground  for  imputing  to  Mr. 
Henry  any  participation  in  the  attack  on  Mr.  Jefferson;  but  it  is 
probable  that  both  the  impeachment  and  dictatorship  originated 
in  that  state  of  alarm,  and  consequent  desire  of  change,  which 
the  public  disasters  would  naturally  produce,  and  that  so  favour- 
able an  occasion  called  forth  all  the  private  enmity  which  might 
have  been  previously  rankling  in  the  minds  of  many  against 
Mr.  Jefferson,  and  which  more  than  one  of  his  public  acts  was 
known  to  have  caused.  Hitherto,  he  had  escaped  the  open  as- 
saults of  hostility;  but  without  doubt  it  was  because  he  had 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  151 

afforded  no  fit  occasion  to  his  enemies,  rather  than  that  he  had 
none.  No  man  can  act  a  conspicuous  part  in  the  public  con- 
cerns of  his  country,  without  making- .enemies,  as  well  as  friends. 
If  no  other  cause  exist,  his  very  merits  and  success  will  excite 
the  envy  of  his  competitors.  But,  in  addition  to  this,  he  can 
scarcely  avoid  opposing,  in  his  course,  measures  which  others 
have  found  profitable,  or  have  honestly  believed  salutary,  and 
thus  patriotism  concurs  with  rivalry  and  self-love,  to  draw  down 
upon  him  a  degree  of  ill-will,  in  proportion  to  the  sphere  of  his 
activity.  The  unanimity  with  which  the  people  of  Virginia  had 
resisted  the  unwarranted  pretensions  of  Great  Britain,  and  the 
sense  of  common  danger,  had  produced  more  than  ordinary  har- 
mony hitherto  among  her  public  men.  Yet  it  is  easy  to  see 
that  the  demon  of  civil  discord  had  not  been  utterly  idle,  and 
that  he  had  found  fit  materials  for  his  purpose  before  the  war 
had  terminated.  Mr.  Henry,  for  a  time,  had  his  partizans  and 
opponents.  General  Washington  always  had  his;  and  while 
Mr.  Jefferson  was  Governor,  it  appeared  that  he  also  was  not 
without  his  share.  He  had  been  instrumental  in  several  pub- 
lic measures  which  materially  affected  private  interests.  It  / 
was  he  who  first  proposed  to  remove  the  seajt_oJlgoyernment  j 
from  WilliamsbaiEg-to  Richmond,  a  change  which  occasioned 
an  immediate  loss  to  those  who  held  property  in  the  former  \ 
capital,*  and  which,  on  other  accounts,  was  unacceptable  to 
many  citizens  of  the  lower  country.  The^Jikw^-^uccessfully 
levejjed^t.Jiie-arisJociracj:.pl.lhejcountcy>-in  the  fundamental 
changes  which  have  been  mentioned,  gave  offence  to  some,  from 
their  motive,  as  well  as  their  tendency.  And  lastly,  the  friends 
of  the  established  church  saw^injiim  their  most  decided  and 
uncompromising  opponent.  With  all  these  motives  to  hostility, 
it  was  ToT>e  elcpectedThat  his  conduct,  while  Governor,  would 
be  scanned  with  jealous  circumspection,  and  that  any  errors  he 

*  Twenty  years  after  the  removal  of  the  seat  of  government,  traces  of 
resentment  and  ill-will  to  Mr.  Jefferson,  from  this  source,  might  be  dis- 
tinctly seen  in  the  ''Old  City,"  and  its  vicinity;  and,  although  the  gale  of 
his  popularity,  then  at  its  height,  readily  dispelled  the  smoke  from  these 
petty  fires,  it  was  continually  rising. 


152  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

might  have  committed,  would  be  uncandidly  magnified,  and 
unsparingly  censured. 

The  grounds  on  which  he  was  arraigned  before  the  bar  of 
public  opinion,  for  he  was  never  required  to  answer  before  any 
other  tribunal,  were  these:  that  he  had  not  put  the  country  in 
a  state  of  preparation  and  defence,  as  soon  as  he  received  the 
information  from  General  Washington  of  the  meditated  invasion: 
that,  after  the  invasion,  he  did  not  use  the  means  of  resist- 
ance which  the  country  then  possessed:  that  he  too  much  con- 
sulted his  personal  safety,  when  Arnold  first  entered  Richmond, 
by  which  others  were  dispirited  and  discouraged:  that  he  igno- 
miniously  fled  from  Monticello  to  the  neighbouring  mountain, 
on  Tarlton's  approach  to  Charlottesville:  and  that  the  office  of 
Governor,  which  he  had  once  prevented  a  fit  person  from  filling, 
he  had  voluntarily  abandoned,  as  soon  as  it  became  one  of  diffi- 
culty and  danger. 

There  is  not  one  of  these  charges,  which,  if  it  be  examined 
in  a  spirit  of  candour,  does  not  admit  of  a  satisfactory  refutation 
— not  one  on  which  he  has  not  long  since  been  acquitted  by  the 
great  mass  of  his  countrymen.  Personal  ill-will,  and  yet  more 
party  rancour,  though  refuted  are  not  always  silenced,  and 
while  Mr.  Jefferson  was  President,  these  charges  were  revived 
and  reiterated  through  the  opposition  papers.  It  was  in  answer 
to  one  of  these  attacks  in  1805,  that  a  formal  vindication  was 
prepared  by  himself,  and  published  anonymously.  In  the  fol- 
lowing extract  from  this  paper,  the  reader  may  see  his  own 
defence  against  the  principal  charges  in  his  own  words:  having 
given  a  circumstantial  narrative  of  Arnold's  incursion  in  Janu- 
ary, 1781,  to  which  that  already  presented  to  the  reader  strictly 
conforms,  it  thus  proceeds: 

"Soon  after  this,  General  Phillips  having  joined  Arnold  with 

a  reinforcement  of  2000  men,  they  advanced  again  up  to  Pe- 

I   tersburg,  and  about  the  last  of  April,  to  Manchester.     The 

\  Governor  had  remained  constantly  in  and  about  Richmond, 

1  exerting  all  his  powers  for  collecting  militia,  and  providing  such 

\  means  for  the  defence  of  the  state  as  its  exhausted  resources 

i  admitted.     Never  assuming  a  guard,  and  with  only  the  river 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  153 

between  him  and  the  enemy,  his  lodgings  were  frequently  within 
four,  five  or  six  miles  of  them." 

"M.  de  La  Fayette,  about  this  time,  arrived  at  Richmond 
with  some  continental  troops,  with  which,  and  the  militia  col- 
lected in  the  neighbourhood,  he  continued  to  occupy  that  place, 
and  the  north  bank  of  the  river,  while  Phillips  and  Arnold  held 
Manchester  and  the  south  bank.  But  Lord  Cornwallis,  about 
the  middle  of  May,  joining  them  with  the  main  southern  army, 
M.  de  La  Fayette  was  obliged  to  retire.  The  enemy  crossed 
the  river,  and  advanced  up  into  the  country,  about  fifty  miles, 
and  within  thirty  miles  of  Charlottesville,  at  which  place  the 
Legislature  being  to  meet  in  June,  the  Governor  proceeded  to  his 
seat  at  Monticello,  two  or  three  miles  from  it.  His  office  was 
now  near  expiring — the  country  under  invasion  by  a  powerful 
army — no  services  but  military  of  any  avail — unprepared  by 
his  line  of  life  and  education  for  the  command  of  armies,  he 
believed  it  right  not  to  stand  in  the  way  of  talents  better  fitted 
than  his  own  to  the  circumstances  under  which  the  country  was 
placed.  He,  therefore,  himself  proposed  to  his  friends  in  the 
Legislature,  that  General  Nelson,  who  commanded  the  militia 
of  the  state,  should  be  appointed  Governor,  as  he  was  sensible 
that  the  union  of  the  civil  and  military  power  in  the  same 
hands,  at  this  time,  would  greatly  facilitate  military  measures. 
This  appointment  accordingly  took  place  on  the  12th  of  June, 
1781." 

After  narrating  the  particulars  of  Tarlton's  attempt  to  sur- 
prise him  at  Monticello,  he  thus  comments  on  the  charge  which 
his  enemies  had  founded  on  that  enterprise:  "This  is  the  famous 
adventure  of  Carter's  mountain,  which  has  been  so  often  re- 
sounded through  the  slanderous  chronicles  of  federalism.  But 
they  have  taken  care  never  to  detail  the  facts,  lest  these  should 
show,  that  this  favourite  charge  amounted  to  nothing  more  than 
that  he  did  not  remain  in  his  house,  and  there  singly  fight  a 
whole  troop  of  horse,  or  suffer  himself  to  be  taken  prisoner. 
Having  accompanied  his  family  one  day's  journey,  he  returned 
to  Monticello.  Tarleton  had  retired  after  eighteen  hours  stay 
in  Charlottesville.  Mr.  Jefferson  then  rejoined  his  family,  and 

VOL.  I.— 20 


154  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

proceeded  with  them  to  an  estate  he  had  in  Bedford,  about 
eighty  miles  south-west,  where,  riding  on  his  farm,  some  time 
after,  he  was  thrown  from  his  horse,  and  disabled  from  riding 
on  horseback  for  a  considerable  time.  But  Mr.  Turner  finds  it 
more  convenient  to  give  him  this  fall,  in  his  retreat  before 
Tarleton,  which  had  happened  some  weeks  before,  as  a  proof 
that  he  withdrew  from  a  troop  of  horse  with  a  precipitancy 
which  Don  Q,uixotte  would  not  have  practised. 

"The  facts  here  stated  most  particularly,  with  date  of  time 
and  place,  are  taken  from  the  notes  made  by  the  writer  hereof, 
for  his  own  satisfaction  at  the  time — the  others  are  from  memory, 
but  so  well  recollected,  that  he  is  satisfied  there  is  no  material 
fact  misstated.  Should  any  person  undertake  to  contradict  any 
particular,  on  evidence  which  may  at  all  merit  the  public 
respect,  the  writer  will  take  the  trouble  (though  not  at  all  in 
the  best  situation  for  it)  to  produce  the  proofs  in  support  of  it. 
He  finds,  indeed,  that  of  the  persons  whom  he  recollects  to  have 
been  present  on  the  occasions,  few  have  survived  the  interme- 
diate lapse  of  four  and  twenty  years.  Yet  he  trusts  that  some, 
as  well  as  himself,  are  yet  among  the  living;  and  he  is  positively 
certain  that  no  man  can  falsify  any  material  fact  here  stated. 
He  well  remembers,  indeed,  that  there  were  then,  as  there  are 
at  all  times,  some  who  blamed  every  thing  done  contrary  to 
their  own  opinion,  although  their  opinions  were  formed  on  a 
very  partial  knowledge  of  facts.  The  censures  which  have 
been  hazarded  by  such  men  as  Mr.  Turner,  are  nothing  but 
revivals  of  these  half-informed  opinions.  Mr.  George  Nicholas, 
then  a  very  young  man,  but  always  a  very  honest  one,  was 
prompted  by  these  persons  to  bring  specific  charges  against  Mr. 
Jefferson.  The  heads  of  these,  in  writing,  were  communicated 
through  a  mutual  friend  to  Mr.  Jefferson,  who  committed  to 
writing  also  the  heads  of  justification  on  each  of  them.  I  well 
remember  this  paper,  and  believe  the  original  of  it  still  exists; 
and  though  framed  when  every  real  fact  was  fresh  in  the 
knowledge  of  every  one,  this  fabricated  flight  from  Richmond 
was  not  among  the  charges  stated  in  this  paper,  nor  any  charge 
against  Mr.  Jefferson  for  not  fighting,  singly,  the  troop  of  horse. 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  155 

Mr.  Nicholas  candidly  relinquished  further  proceeding.  The 
House  of  Representatives  of  Virginia  pronounced  an  honourable 
sentence  of  entire  approbation  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  conduct,  and 
so  much  the  more  honourable,  as  themselves  had  been  witnesses 
to  it.  And  Mr.  George  Nicholas  took  a  conspicuous  occasion 
afterwards,  of  his  own  free  will,  and  when  the  matter  was 
entirely  at  rest,  to  retract  publicly  the  erroneous  opinions  he 
had  been  led  into  on  that  occasion,  and  to  make  just  reparation 
by  a  candid  acknowledgment  of  them." 

While  Mr.  Jefferson  was  confined  at  Poplar  Forest,  his  estate 
in  Bedford,  in  consequence  of  the  fall  from  his  horse,  and  was 
thereby  incapable  of  any  active  employment,  public  or  private, 
he  occupied  himself  with  answering-the_quari«&  whkh-Mohs»,de. 
Marbois,  then  secretary  of  the  French-  Legation  to  the  United 
States,  had  submitted  to  him  respecting  the  physical  and. .politi- 
cal con.ditign  of  t  Vilfftftja;  which  answers  were  afterwards  pub- 
lished by  him,  under  the  title  of  "Notes  on  Virginia."  When 
we  consider  how  difficult  it  is,  even  in  the  present  day,  to  get 
an  accurate  knowledge  of  such  details  in  our  country,  and  how 
much  greater  the  difficulty  must  have  then  been,  we  are  sur- 
prised at  the  extent  of  the  information  which  a  single  individual 
had  been  thus  able  to  acquire,  as  to  the  physical  features  of 
the  state — the  course,  length  and  depth  of  its  rivers;  its  zoolo- 
gical and  botanical  productions;  its  Indian  tribes;  its  statistics 
and  laws.  After  the  lapse  of  more  than  half  a  century,  by 
much  the  larger  part  of  it  still  gives  us  the  fullest  and  most 
accurate  information  we  possess  of  the  subjects  on  which  it 
treats.  Some  of  its  physical  theories  are  indeed  in  the  rear  of 
modern  science;  but  they  form  a  small  portion  of  the  book,  and 
its  general  speculations  are  marked  with  that  boldness,  that 
utter  disregard  for  received  opinions,  which  always  charac- 
terized him;  and  the  whole  is  written  in  a  neat  flowing  style, 
always  perspicuous,  and  often  peculiarly  apt  and  felicitous. 

The  Ex-Governor  was  soon  after  elected  a  member  of  the 
General  Assembly,  from  the  county  of  Albemarle,  with  Mr. 
George  Nicholas,  and  as  this  gentleman  had  urged  the  impeach- 
ment against  him,  in  the  previous  session,  Mr.  Jefferson  applied 


156  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSOX. 

to  him,  through  a  mutual  friend,  for  the  charges  intended  to  be 
alleged  against  him,  and  having  obtained  them,  he,  through  the 
same  friend,  stated  his  grounds  of  defence.  It  is  worthy  of 
remark,  that  among  these  charges,  "the  flight"  from  Richmond 
and  from  Monticello,  the  favourite  grounds  of  party  censure 
many  years  afterwards,  were  not  included.  When  the  Legis- 
lature met  in  December,  Mr.  Jefferson,  with  the  boldness  of 
conscious  integrity,  rose,  and  expressed  his  readiness  to  meet 
any  accusation  that  might  be  preferred  against  him.  None  was 
made;  and  in  a  short  time  afterwards,  19th  of  December,  1781, 
the  following  resolution  passed  unanimously: 

"Resolved,  That  the  sincere  thanks  of  the  General  Assembly 
be  given  to  our  former  Governor,  THOMAS  JEFFERSO.Y,  Esq.,  for 
his  impartial,  upright,  and  attentive  administration,  whilst  in 
office.  The  Assembly  wish,  in  the  strongest  manner,  to  declare 
the  high  opinion  which  they  entertain  of  Mr.  JEFFERSON'S 
ability,  rectitude,  and  integrity,  as  a  chief  magistrate  of  this 
Commonwealth,  and  mean,  by  thus  publicly  avowing  their 
opinion,  to  obviate  and  to  remove  all  unmerited  censure." 

There  is  indeed  nothing  in  the  preceding  resolution  to  repel 
the  charge  of  a  want  of  military  talents  in  Mr.  Jefferson;  but 
this  was  a  merit  to  which  he  never  made  pretension,  and  indeed 
the  want  of  it  was  the  avowed  motive  for  his  withdrawing  from 
the  office.  It  shows,  however,  that  the  Assembly  were  satis- 
fied that  he  had  not  in  any  part  of  his  administration  acted  cul- 
pably, as  his  enemies  have  alleged,  and  had  he  not  been  unjustly 
accused,  or  had  there  even  been  colour  for  any  of  the  charges, 
it  may  be  fairly  presumed  that  some  member  would  have  been 
found  ready  to  express  his  dissent,  or  at  least  to  propose  some 
modification  of  the  resolution.  Nor  can  it  be  supposed  that 
Mr.  George  Nicholas,  always  distinguished  for  his  firmness,  as 
well  as  integrity,  would  have  publicly  retracted  his  former 
charges,  if  he  had  not  been  thoroughly  convinced  of  their  injus- 
tice.* 

The  year  Mr.  Jefferson  was  first  elected  Governor,  he  was 

*  It  has  been  further  objected,  that  the  resolution  of  the  Legislature  is 
not  exculpatory,  because  it  is  silent  as  to  the  charges  of  misconduct 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  157 

also  appointed  one  of  the  visiters  of  William  and  Mary  College, 
in  which  capacity  he  effected  an  important  change  in  the  insti- 
tution, by  abolishing  the  grammar  school  attached  to  it,  the  two 
professorships  of  divinity,  and  that  of  oriental  languages,  and 
by  substituting  a  professorship  of  law  and  police,  one  of  anatomy, 
medicine  and  chemistry,  and  one  of  modern  languages.  But 
none  of  these  changes  proved  permanent,  except  the  professor- 
ships of  law,  and  of  modern  languages. 

Mr.  Jefferson  was,  on  the  15th  of  June,  1781,  associated  by 
Congress  with  Mr.  Adams,  Dr.  Franklin,  Mr.  Jay,  and  Mr.  Lau- 
rens,  as  ministers  plenipotentiary  for  negotiating  peace,  which 
was  then  expected  to  take  place  through  the  mediation  of  Rus- 
sia. He  was  obliged  to  decline  the  appointment,  from  the  same 
family  considerations  which  had  operated  to  prevent  his  accept- 
ance of  a  similar  mission  in  1776.  It  seems  that  the  expected 
mediation  of  Russia  never  took  place;  and,  in  the  mean  time, 
the  surrender  of  J^ord  Cornwallis,  at  York,  on  the  19th  of  Octo- 
ber, 1781,  having  rendered  the  cause  of  Great  Britain  in 
America  hopeless,  and  Congress  having  in  the  next  year  re- 
ceived intimations  of  a  favourable  temper  on  her  part,  the 
appointment  of  Mr.  Jefferson  was  renewed  in  November,  and 

which  had  been  brought  against  Mr.  Jefferson.  But  even  this  cavil  can- 
not avail  his  enemies,  as  those  charges  are  expressly  mentioned  in  the 
resolution  which  passed  the  house  of  delegates,  and  are  made  the  avowed 
motive  of  the  vote  of  approbation.  It  is  in  these  words: 

"Resolved,  That  the  sincere  thanks  of  the  General  Assembly  be  given 
to  our  former  Governor,  Thomas  Jefferson,  Esquire,  for  his  impartial, 
upright,  and  attentive  administration  of  the  powers  of  the  executive, 
whilst  in  office;  popular  rumours  gaining  some  degree  of  credence  by 
more  pointed  accusations,  rendered  it  necessary  to  make  an  inquiry  into 
his  conduct,  and  delayed  that  retribution  of  public  gratitude  so  eminent- 
ly merited;  but  that  conduct  having  become  the  object  of  scrutiny,  ten- 
fold value  is  added  to  the  approbation,  founded  on  a  cool  and  deliberate 
discussion.  The  Assembly  wish,  therefore,  in  the  strongest  manner,  to 
declare  the  high  opinion  which  they  entertain  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  ability, 
rectitude  and  integrity,  as  chief  magistrate  of  this  Commonwealth,  and 
mean,  by  thus  publicly  avowing  their  opinion,  to  obviate  all  future,  and' 
to  remove  all  former  unmerited  censure." 

The  preceding  resolution  passed  the  house  unanimously,  but  was 
amended  in  the  Senate,  by  striking  out  the  words  in  italics,  so  as  to 
improve  the  form,  without  affecting  its  substance. 


158  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

was  now  accepted.  His  motive  for  acceptance  he  thus  explains: 
"I  had  about  two  months  before  lost  the  cherished  companion 
of  my  life,  in  whose  affection,  unabated  on  both  sides,  I  had  lived 
the  last  ten  years  in  unchequered  happiness."  The  character 
he  uniformly  supported  in  all  the  other  domestic  relations,  his 
remarkable  suavity  of  temper,  and  kindness  of  feeling  in  private 
life,  give  us  assurance  that  this  was  not  an  exaggerated  view 
of  his  connubial  felicity. 

Of  his  sensibility  on  this  mournful  occasion,  and  of  his  tender 
and  affectionate  attentions  to  the  deceased,  in  her  last  illness, 
we  have  the  following  touching  picture  from  one*  who  had  the 
best  opportunity  of  knowing  them: 

"As  a  nurse,  no  female  ever  had  more  tenderness  or  anxiety. 
He  nursed  my  poor  mother,  in  turn,  with  aunt  Carr  and  his 
own  sisters;  sitting  up  with  her,  and  administering  her  medi- 
cines and  drink  to  the  last.  For  four  months  that  she  lingered, 
he  was  never  out  of  calling.  When  not  at  her  bed  side,  he  was 
writing  in  a  small  room  that  opened  immediately  at  the  head  of 
her  bed.  A  moment  before  the  closing  scene,  he  was  led  from 
the  room  almost  in  a  state  of  insensibility  by  his  sister  Mrs. 
Carr,  who,  with  difficulty,  got  him  into  his  library,  where  he 
fainted,  and  remained  so  long  insensible,  that  they  became 
apprehensive  he  never  would  revive.  The  scene  that  followed, 
I  did  not  witness;  but  the  violence  of  his  grief,  (when,  by  stealth, 
I  entered  his  room  at  night,)  I  dare  not  trust  myself  to  describe. 
He  kept  his  room  three  weeks,  during  which  I  was  never  a 
moment  from  his  side.  He  walked  almost  incessantly,  night 
and  day,  lying  down  only  occasionally,  when  nature  was  com- 
pletely exhausted,  on  a  pallet,  that  had  been  brought  in  during 
his  long  fainting  fit.  My  aunts  remained  constantly  with  him 
for  some  weeks,  I  do  not  remember  how  many.  When,  at  last, 
he  left  his  room,  he  rode  out,  and  from  that  time  he  was  inces- 
santly on  horseback,  rambling  about  the  mountain,  in  the  least 
frequented  roads,  and  just  as  often  through  the  woods.  In  those 
melancholy  rambles,  I  was  his  constant  companion,  a  solitary 

*  Mrs.  Randolph,  who  has  favoured  me  with  many  interesting  particu- 
lars, in  answer  to  my  inquiries,  and  who,  I  trust,  will  excuse  me  for  con- 
veying the  interesting  facts  she  relates  in  her  own  language. 


THE  LIFE   OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  159 

witness  to  many  a  violent  burst  of  grief;  the  remembrance  of 
which  has  consecrated  particular  scenes  of  that  lost  home  beyond 
the  power  of  time  to  obliterate."* 

He  left  Monticello  on  the  19th  of  December,  1782,  and  in  eight 
days  reached  Philadelphia,  a  distance  now  travelled,  by  the 
ordinary  means  of  conveyance,  in  thirty-six  hours.  It  was 
his  intention  to  embark  at  that  place,  but  the  French  minister, 
Luzerne,  offered  him  a  passage  in  the  Romulus  frigate,  which 
was  then  lying  below  Baltimore,  blocked  up  by  the  ice.  He 
accepted  the  offer,  and,  in  awaiting  the  time  of  her  sailing, 
employed  a  month,  with  his  wonted  industry,  in  looking  over 
the  papers  in  the  office  of  State,  for  the  purpose  of  acquiring  a 
more  intimate  knowledge  of  our  foreign  relations.  He  then 
went  to  Baltimore,  and  having  waited  there  a  month  longer, 
information  was  received  that  a  provisional  treaty  of  peace  had 
been  signed  by  the  American  commissioners  on  the  3d  of  Sep- 
tember, to  become  absolute  on  the  conclusion  of  peace  between 
France  and  Great  Britain.  On  receiving  this  intelligence,  Mr. 
Jefferson  went  back  to  Philadelphia,  and  being  released  from 
his  mission,  now  no  longer  needed,  he  returned  to  Virginia,  and 
reached  home  on  the  15th  of  May,  1783. 

*  In  the  burying  place  at  Monticello,  by  the  side  of  the  granite  obelisk, 
lately  erected  to  Mr.  Jefferson  himself,  may  be  seen  a  marble  slab  which 
covers  the  remains  of  this  lady,  and  on  which  are  inscribed  the  following 
Greek  lines: 

El  S\  &4yov7a>y  "Sfi^  xa]st>.»'9ovT'  av  Aicfao, 
At/Tag  \y^i  viHt-Al  <f/X«  fUftnrtfj?  vraipx. 

The  lines  are  taken  from  that  part  of  Achilles's  speech,  over  the  dead 
body  of  Hector,  in  the  22nd  book  of  the  Iliad,  in  which,  after  saying  that 
he  will  never  forget  Patroclus  while  he  has  life;  he  adds,  "and  though 
spirits  in  a  future  state  be  oblivious  of  the  past,  he  will  even  there  re- 
member his  beloved  companion." 

A  Greek  epitaph  wears  the  appearance,  at  first  sight,  of  an  ostentation 
of  learning,  on  a  most  inappropriate  occasion;  but  such  a  censure  is  incon- 
sistent not  only  with  Mr.  Jefferson's  general  character,  but  also  with  the 
fact,  that  few  persons  of  his  day.  to  whom  the  classics  were  familiar, 
quoted  them  so  seldom.  We  may,  therefore,  with  more  probability  refer 
the  singularity  to  some  refinement  of  delicacy,  which,  in  paying  a  tribute 
to  the  memory  of  the  deceased,  sought  to  veil  the  expression  of  his  feel- 
ings from  indiscriminate  observation. 


160  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

On  the  6th  of  the  following  month,  the  Legislature  again 
appointed  him  a  delegate  to  Congress,  to  take  effect  from  the 
1st  of  November.  Thus  affording  a  further  proof,  if  further 
proof  were  wanted,  that  the  Legislature  did  not  deem  his  con- 
duct, as  Governor,  in  any  respect  censurable,  for  if  they  had, 
they  would  not  so  soon  have  taken  occasion  to  confer  on  him 
this  new  mark  of  their  confidence.  He  left  Monticello  on  the 
16th  of  October,  arrived  at  Trenton  on  the  3d  of  November, 
and  took  his  seat  on  the  4th;  on  which  day  Congress  adjourned 
to  the  26th,  to  meet  at  Annapolis,  the  seat  of  government  of 
Maryland. 

Already  had  the  zeal  which  once  animated  the  members  of 
this  body  so  cooled,  that  a  majority  of  the  states,  which,  by  the 
articles  of  confederation,  was  necessary  to  constitute  a  quorum, 
even  for  minor  concerns,  did  not  assemble  till  the  13th  of  De- 
cember, eighteen  days  after  the  time  appointed  by  adjourn- 
ment. One  of  the  first  subjects  which  seemed  to  engage  Mr. 
Jefferson's  attention  this  session,  was  that  of  a  national  money. 
From  causes  that  were  partly  local,  but  principally  from  the 
inadequate  supply  of  the  precious  metals  which  is  always  expe- 
rienced in  new  colonies,  their  currency,  nominally  the  same  as 
that  of  the  mother  country,  had  generally  depreciated,  and 
when  it  became  stationary,  the  depreciation  greatly  varied 
among  the  states.  Thus,  100/.  sterling,  or  money  of  Great  Bri- 
tain, was  equivalent  in  New  England  and  Virginia  to  133^/. 
In  Pennsylvania,  Jersey,  Maryland  and  Delaware,  to  166|/. 
In  New  York  and  North  Carolina,  to  177|/.  In  South  Carolina 
and  Georgia,  to  W3jl.  It  was,  therefore,  desirable  to  provide  a 
money  unit,  which  being  adopted  by  all  the  states,  would  facili- 
tate their  commercial  intercourse,  save  time,  and  favour  accu- 
racy. 

The  attention  of  Congress  had  been  called  to  the  subject  in 
January,  1782,  and  it  had  been  referred  to  the  public  financier, 
Robert  Morris,  who,  together  with  his  assistant,  Mr.  Gouverneur 
Morris,  had  made  an  elaborate  report,  showing  the  denomina- 
tions of  money  in  the  several  states;  the  value  of  foreign  coins 
in  circulation;  and  the  importance  of  a  general  standard  value, 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  161 

as  well  as  of  a  money  unit.  He  proposed  for  that  unit  1-1440 
of  a  dollar,  which  would  be  a  common  measure  of  the  penny  of 
every  state,  without  leaving  a  fraction.  The  subject  was 
resumed  at  the  succeeding  session  in  April,  1783;  but  nothing 
was  done.  It  was  again  taken  up  at  the  present  session,  and 
referred  to  a  committee,  of  which  Mr.  Jefferson  was  a  member. 
He  prepared  some  notes  on  the  subject,  in  which  he  objected  to 
Mr.  Morris's  money  unit,  1440,  for  a  dollar,  as  inconvenient  by 
the  great  number  of  figures  required  to  express  it,  and  by  its 
making  calculations  more  laborious.  He,  therefore,  proposed 
in  its  stead  the  dollar  as  the  unit,  and  other  coins,  so  related  to 
this  as  to  be  adapted  to  the  decimal  arithmetic.  These  notes 
were  submitted  to  Mr.  Morris,  to  which  he  replied,  adhering  to 
his  first  plan,  except  so  far  as  to  make  his  unit  equal  to  a  hun- 
dred of  those  just  proposed.  Mr.  Jefferson  rejoined,  and  the 
committee  reporting  in  favour  of  his  plan,  it  was  in  the  following 
year  adopted  by  Congress,  and  is  the  one  which  now  prevails. 

Although  no  reform  could  be  more  obviously  beneficial,  yet 
such  is  the  difficulty  of  breaking  inveterate  habit,  that,  although 
nearly  half  a  century  has  elapsed  since  this  convenient  mode  of 
reckoning  was  recommended,  and  partially  adopted,  although 
all  public  accounts,  both  in  the  general  and  state  governments, 
have  been  since  kept  according  to  this  plan,  and  nearly  all  the 
coin  in  circulation  is  adapted  to  it,  the  old  mode  of  reckoning 
still  extensively  prevails,  especially  as  to  shillings  and  pence. 
The  same  silver  coins  are  thus  called  and  reckoned  throughout 
the  union  four  several  ways;  and  some  of  them,  at  values  not 
suited  to  the  decimal  notation.  The  advantage  of  the  new 
mode  is  so  great  in  book-keeping  that  it  is  now  universally 
adopted  for  that  purpose. 

It  is  worthy  of  notice,  that  Mr.  Jefferson's  estimate  of  gold 
to  silver  at  fifteen  to  one  was  objected  to  by  Mr.  Morris,  be- 
cause, as  he  showed,  it  rated  gold  too  high;  but  such  has  been 
the  fluctuation  in  the  relative  prices  of  these  metals,  that  the 
same  estimate  has  since  rated  gold  so  much  too  low  as  almost 
to  banish  it  from  the  country,  until  its  value  was  raised  to  six- 
teen for  one. 

VOL.  I.— 21 


162  THE   T.IS-K  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

Mr.  Jefferson,  from  a  regard  to  the  convenience  of  the  deci- 
mal notation,  was  desirous  of  seeing  it  applied  to  weights  and 
measures;  but  that  would  be  an  experiment  of  more  doubtful 
success,  as  it  would  not  have  the  same  aids  as  that  of  money 
has  had;  nor  would  it  produce  the  same  saving  of  time,  since 
most  commodities,  however  measured  as  to  quantity,  are  also 
measured  as  to  value,  and,  of  course,  share  in  the  advantage  of 
this  money  of  account. 

The  inconveniences  of  the  very  imperfect  system  of  govern- 
ment that  had  been  adopted  in  the  struggle  for  national  inde- 
pendence, began  now  to  manifest  themselves,  when  the  sense  of 
common  danger  in  the  several  states  no  longer  bound  them 
together.  Limited  as  were  the  functions  of  Congress,  it  was 
found  that  they  could  not  conveniently  be  executed  by  one 
body,  even  when  it  was  in  session;  that  this  imperfect  execution 
must  be  often  interrupted  by  occasional  vacations;  and  that  if 
permanent  sessions  were  otherwise  practicable,  they  would  be 
defeated  by  the  jealousy  of  the  State  Legislatures,  of  which 
there  had  been  already  open  manifestations.  As  some  remedy 
for  these  inconveniences,  Mr.  Jefferson  proposed  that  a  committee 
of  states  should  be  appointed,  under  the  9th  article  of  the  Confe- 
deration, to  sit  in  the  recess  of  Congress:  that  the  functions  of  Con- 
gress should  thereafter  be  divided  into  executive  and  legislative; 
the  latter  to  be  reserved  to  the  whole  body,  and  the  former  to  be 
exercised  by  that  committee.  The  proposition  was  adopted;  but 
it  proved,  on  trial,  an  utter  failure.  The  members  entered  on 
their  duties  after  the  subsequent  adjournment  of  Congress; 
"quarrelled  very  soon;  split  into  two  parties;  abandoned  their 
post,  and  left  the  government  without  any  visible  head,  until 
the  next  meeting  of  Congress."  He  takes  occasion  from  this 
fact,  and  the  general  disposition  which  men  have  to  divide  into 
parties,  to  pronounce  against  the  policy  of  a  plural  executive. 
The  same  inconvenience  will  be  ever  found  in  deliberative 
assemblies  also,  and  it  but  too  often  stands  in  the  way  of  the 
public  interest;  though,  in  general,  the  mischief  is  less  serious 
there,  as  the  necessity  for  passing  a  new  law  is  seldom  as  urgent 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  163 

as  for  executing  one  which  the  Legislature  has  deemed  it  expe- 
dient to  pass. 

On  the  19th  of  December  General  Washington  came  to 
Annapolis,  for  the  purpose  of  resigning  the  command  of  the 
American  arrny.  Having  communicated  his  purpose  the  next 
day  to  Congress,  and  inquired  whether  his  resignation  should  be 
by  a  written  communication,  or  at  an  audience,  they  decided  on, 
the  latter — it  appearing  to  them,  as  it  had,  no  doubt,  appeared 
to  him,  that  there  was  a  propriety  in  yielding  up  his  authority  in 
the  same  way  as  he  had  received  it  eight  years  before;  and  that 
an  act  so  closely  connected  with  his  country's  glory,  and  his  own, 
should  be  performed  with  more  than  ordinary  solemnity.  A 
committee,  of  which  Mr.  Jefferson  was  chairman,  was  accord- 
ingly appointed  to  make  arrangements  for  the  occasion.  The 
ceremony  took  place  in  the  State  House  Hall,  at  12  o'clock,  on 
the  23d  of  December,  in  the  presence  of  all  the  officers  of  the 
federal  and  state  government  and  of  numerous  spectators  attract- 
ed by  the  occasion.  The  moral  grandeur  of  the  scene,  and  the 
patriotic  exultation  it  was  likely  to  call  forth,  could  not  suppress 
a  feeling  of  tender  melancholy  on  beholding  that  connexion 
dissolved,  which  had  been  the  source  of  national  pride  and  glory; 
and  many  of  the  spectators,  yielding  to  this  emotion,  melted  into 
tears.  The  principal  actors  themselves.  General  Washington 
and  the  president  of  Congress,  General  Mifflin,  were  almost 
overpowered  by  their  feelings.  This  closing  act  of  the  great 
drama  made  a  deep  impression  on  the  whole  American  nation, 
and  forms  one  of  the  interesting  subjects  with  which  Trumbull's 
pencil  has  adorned  the  capitol  at  Washington.  The  addresses 
of  the  general,  and  of  the  president  of  Congress,  in  reply,  exhibit 
the  same  beautiful  simplicity,  both  as  to  thought  and  diction, 
which  was  suited  to  the  occasion.  That  of  the  president,  as- 
cribed to  Mr.  Jefferson,  is  cited  as  a  specimen  of  his  happiest 
manner. 

Sir, 

The  United  States,  in  Congress  assembled,  receive  with  emo- 
tions too  affecting  for  utterance,  the  solemn  resignation  of  the 


164  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

authorities  under  which  you  have  led  their  troops  with  success 
through  a  perilous  and  doubtful  war.  Called  upon  by  your 
country  to  defend  its  invaded  rights,  you  accepted  the  sacred 
charge,  before  it  had  formed  alliances,  and  whilst  it  was  with- 
out funds,  or  a  government  to  support  you.  You  have  conducted 
the  great  military  contest  with  wisdom  and  fortitude,  invariably 
regarding  the  rights  of  the  civil  power  through  all  disasters  and 
changes.  You  have,  by  the  love  and  confidence  of  your  fellow 
citizens,  enabled  them  to  display  their  martial  genius,  and  trans- 
mit their  fame  to  posterity.  You  have  persevered,  till  these 
United  States,  aided  by  a  magnanimous  king  and  nation,  have 
been  enabled,  under  a  just  Providence,  to  close  the  war  in  free- 
dom, safety  and  independence;  on  which  happy  event  we  sin- 
cerely join  you  in  congratulations. 

"Having  defended  the  standard  of  liberty  in  this  new  world; 
having  taught  a  lesson  useful  to  those  who  inflict,  and  to  those 
who  feel  oppression,  you  retire  from  the  great  theatre  of  ac- 
tion, with  the  blessings  of  your  fellow  citizens — but  the  glory 
of  your  virtues  will  not  terminate  with  your  military  command, 
it  will  continue  to  animate  remotest  ages. 

"\Ve  feel  with  you  our  obligations  to  the  army  in  general, 
and  will  particularly  charge  ourselves  with  the  interests  of  those 
confidential  officers,  who  have  attended  your  person  to  this 
affecting  moment. 

"We  join  you  in  commending  the  interests  of  our  dearest 
country  to  the  protection  of  Almighty  God,  beseeching  Him  to 
dispose  the  hearts  and  minds  of  its  citizens,  to  improve  the 
opportunity  afforded  them,  of  becoming  a  happy  and  respectable 
nation.  And  for  you,  we  address  to  Him  our  earnest  prayers, 
that  a  life  so  beloved  may  be  fostered  with  all  his  care;  that 
your  days  may  be  happy  as  they  have  been  illustrious;  and  that 
He  will  finally  give  you  that  reward  which  this  world  cannot 
give." 

Many  years  afterwards,  in  speaking  of  this  session,  he  drew 
the  following  lively  picture  of  the  loquacious  and  disputatious 
spirit  which  is  but  too  prevalent  in  deliberate  assemblies.  "Our 
body,"  he  remarks,  "was  little  numerous,  but  very  contentious. 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSOX.  165 

Day  after  day  was  wasted  on  the  most  unimportant  questions. 
A  member,  one  of  those  afflicted  with  the  morbid  rage  of  de- 
bate, of  an  ardent  mind,  prompt  imagination,  and  copious  flow 
of  words,  who  heard  with  impatience  any  logic  which  was  not 
his  own,  sitting  near  me,  on  some  occasion  of  a  trifling,  but 
wordy  debate,  asked  me  how  I  could  sit  in  silence,  hearing  so 
much  false  reasoning,  which  a  word  would  refute?  I  observed 
to  him,  to  refute  indeed  was  easy,  but  to  silence,  impossible: 
that  in  measures  brought  forward  by  myself,  I  took  the  labour- 
ing oar,  as  was  incumbent  on  me;  but  that,  in  general,  I  was 
willing  to  listen:  that  if  every  sound  argument,  or  objection, 
was  used  by  some  one  or  other  of  the  numerous  debaters,  it  was 
enough;  if  not,  I  thought  it  sufficient  to  suggest  the  omission, 
without  going  into  a  repetition  of  what  had  been  already  said 
by  others:  that  this  was  a  waste  and  abuse  of  the  time,  and 
patience  of  the  house,  which  could  not  be  justified. 

"I  served  with  General  Washington  in  the  legislature  of  Vir- 
ginia, before  the  Revolution,  and,  during  it,  with  Dr.  Franklin 
in  Congress.  I  never  heard  either  of  them  speak  ten  minutes 
at  a  time,  nor  to  any  but  the  main  point  which  was  to  decide 
the  question.  They  laid  their  shoulders  to  the  great  points, 
knowing  that  the  little  ones  would  follow  of  themselves.  If  the 
present  Congress,"  he  adds,  "errs  in  too  much  talking,  how  can 
it  be  otherwise,  in  a  body  to  which  the  people  send  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  lawyers,  whose  trade  it  is  to  question  every  thing, 
yield  nothing,  and  talk  by  the  hour?" 

His  account  of  the  debate  on  the  ratification  of  the  definitive 
treaty  of  Peace,  was  a  practical  illustration  of  these  abuses  of 
discussion.  The  subject  of  this  treaty,  which  had  been  signed 
at  Paris,  on  the  3d  of  September,  was  referred  to  a  committee, 
of  which  Mr.  Jefferson  was  chairman.  The  ratification  of  the 
treaty  requiring,  by  the  articles  of  confederation,  the  presence 
of  nine  states,  and  only  seven  being  present,  on  the  23d  of  De- 
cember, letters  were  addressed  to  the  Governors  of  the  several 
states,  urging  the  necessity  that  their  delegates  should  give 
their  immediate  attendance.  On  the  26th,  Mr.  Jefferson,  by 
way  of  saving  time,  proposed  that  three  vessels  should  be  held 


166  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

in  readiness  to  carry  the  ratification  to  Europe:  one  at  Annapo- 
lis, another  at  New  York,  and  a  third  at  some  eastern  port.  It 
was  opposed  by  one  of  his  colleagues,  Dr.  Lee,*  on  the  ground 
of  its  expense,  and  he  suggested  that  the  seven  states  then  pre- 
sent in  Congress  should  ratify  the  treaty.  This  proposition  was 
afterwards  formally  made  by  another  member,  and  was  gravely 
debated  for  two  days;  one  of  the  arguments  relied  upon  being, 
that  although  the  confederation  required  the  assent  of  nine  states 
to  enter  into  a  treaty,  yet  its  conclusion  could  not  be  called  the 
entrance  i?ito  it.  The  measure  was  lost,  and,  by  general  consent, 
it  was  unnoticed  in  the  proceedings. 

Finding  that  those  who  thought  seven  states  competent  to  the 
ratification  were  restless  under  the  loss  of  their  motion,  Mr. 
Jefferson,  on  the  3d  of  January,  suggested  a  middle  course  by  a 
resolution,  which,  reciting  the  facts  of  the  presence  of  but  seven 
states, -of  their  unanimity  in  favour  of  the  ratification,  and  of 
their  disagreement  as  to  their  competency  to  ratify,  proposed  a 
present  ratification  to  avail  so  far  as  their  power  legitimately 
extended:  that  this  provisional  ratification  should  be  forthwith 
transmitted  to  the  American  ministers  at  Paris;  but  not  to  be 
used  by  them  until  circumstances  should  make  it  necessary: 
that  they  should  apply  for  an  extension  of  the  time  allowed  for 

*  This  gentleman,  Dr.  Arthur  Lee,  a  joint  commissioner  to  France 
with  Dr.  Franklin  and  Silas  Deane,  was  singularly  impracticable  in  his 
temper  and  disposition.  He  seems  to  have  been  one  of  those  who  rarely 
loose  an  opportunity  of  complaint,  or  censure,  or  contradiction.  While 
he  resided  in  England,  one  of  his  early  acquaintances  having  inquired 
about  him  of  Dr.  M ,  who  had  recently  returned  to  Virginia,  the  lat- 
ter answered  the  inquiry  by  the  following  characteristical  anecdote:  Dr. 
Lee  being  once  caught  in  a  shower  of  rain  in  London,  sought  shelter 
under  a  shed,  and  a  gentleman  who  had  joined  him,  from  the  same  mo- 
tive, civilly  remarking,  "It  rains  very  hard,  Sir"— his  difficult  companion 
immediately  replied,  "It  rains  hard,  Sir;  but  I  don't  think  you  can  say  it 
rains  very  hard." 

He  was  the  youngest  of  six  brothers,  who  formed  a  brilliant  constella- 
tion of  talent,  which  was  both  hearty  and  efficient  in  the  cause  of  the 
Revolution;  and  nothing  would  have  been  said  to  detract,  in  the  smallest 
degree,  from  the  mass  of  their  merit,  if  it  had  not  been  thought  that  the 
foregoing  trait  of  character  would  throw  light  on  more  than  one  passage 
in  the  annals  of  the  Revolution. 


THE   LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  167 

ratification:  and  that  if  they  did  not  receive  ratification  by  nine 
states  in  time,  they  were  then  to  offer  the  one  now  sent,  with 
the  requisite  explanations.  The  proposition,  which  seems  the 
best  that  could  have  been  made,  under  the  embarrassing  cir- 
cumstances of  the  occasion,  was  also  debated  two  days;  and  on 
the  third  was  adopted.  The  President  of  Congress  was  directed 
to  write  to  the  ministers  at  Paris  to  that  effect;  but  in  about  ten 
days  afterwards,  delegates  having  attended  from  Connecticut, 
and  one  from  South  Carolina,  the  treaty  was  ratified  on  the 
14th  of  January,  1784,  by  an  unanimous  vote. 

The  treaty  was  ratified  by  the  nine  states  of  Massachusetts, 
Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Maryland, 
Virginia,  North  Carolina  and  South  Carolina,  represented  by 
twenty-one  delegates.  New  Hampshire  and  New  Jersey  were 
not  fully  represented,  having  but  a  single  member  each.  New 
York  and  Georgia  were  wholly  unrepresented.  One  cannot  but 
wonder  that  so  little  interest  was  manifested  in  perfecting  a 
treaty  of  such  importance  as  to  require  a  direct  appeal  from 
the  seven  states  assembled  to  procure  the  requisite  number,  and 
that  even  then,  there  were  four  states  which  did  not  formally 
vote  on  the  ratification. 

It  must  have  been  with  lively  feelings  of  patriotic  and  per- 
sonal pride  that  Mr.  Jefferson  now  signed,  and  had,  as  chairman 
of  the  committee  to  whom  it  was  referred,  reported  the  treaty 
that  acknowledged  and  confirmed  the  Independence,  of  which, 
seven  years  before,  he  had  drawn  the  Declaration.  Besides 
himself,  there  were  four  other  members  who  were  also  actors 
in  the  first  and  last  scene  of  this  grand  political  drama.  They 
were,  Mr.  Gerry  of  Massachusetts,  Mr.  Ellery  of  Rhode  Island, 
Mr.  Sherman  of  Connecticut,  and  Mr.  Morris  of  Pennsylvania. 

The  delegates  from  Virginia,  on  the  1st  of  March,  1784,  ten- 
dered to  Congress  a  deed  of  cession  of  the  territory  north-west 
of  the  Ohio,  in  pursuance  of  an  authority  vested  in  them  by  the 
legislature  of  that  state  on  the  20th  of  October  preceding.  A 
motion  having  been  made  to  qualify  the  acceptance  of  the  deed, 
by  a  declaration  that  such  acceptance  should  not  be  considered 
as  admitting  the  validity  of  the  claims  of  Virginia,  it  received 


168  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

the  votes  of  only  three  states — Rhode  Island,  New  Jersey,  and 
Pennsylvania.  An  unconditional  acceptance  being  then  agreed 
to,  the  deed  was  duly  executed  by  the  delegates,  Thomas  Jef- 
ferson, Samuel  Hardy,  Arthur  Lee,  and  James  Munroe,  and  its 
provisions  have  become  articles  of  solemn  compact  between  the 
general  government  and  the  states  which  have  been  since  formed 
out  of  that  territory. 

The  estimation  in  which  Mr.  Jefferson  was  held  by  his  asso- 
ciates in  this  body,  as  well  as  his  indefatigable  industry,  may  be 
inferred  from  the  facts  that  he  was  twice  elected  its  presiding 
officer,  during  the  indisposition  of  the  president,  and  that  he 
was  appointed  the  chairman  of  all  its  most  important  commit- 
tees. These  were,  besides  the  committees  on  the  ratification  of 
the  treaty  of  peace,  and  on  the  powers  and  duties  of  the  com- 
mittee of  states,  which  have  been  mentioned,  a  committee  on  the 
state  of  the  public  debt  and  the  expenses  of  the  current  year; 
another,  to  revise  the  treasury  department;  another,  to  provide 
for  the  government  of  the  north-western  territory;  another,  for 
the  location  and  disposition  of  the  public  lands;  and  lastly,  a 
committee  to  prepare  instructions  to  American  ministers  in  ne- 
gotiating commercial  treaties. 

On  all  these  occasions  the  measures  recommended  by  him 
appear  to  have  been  adopted,  except  in  two  instances.  One 
was  that  provision  in  the  ordinance  for  the  government  of  the 
north-western  territory,  by  which,  after  the  year  1800,  slavery 
was  there  interdicted,  and  which,  not  receiving  the  support  of 
a  majority  of  the  states,  (six  only  of  the  ten  present  voting  for 
it,)  was  rejected.  The  other  was  the  ordinance  providing  for 
the  location  and  sale  of  the  public  lands,  which,  on  the  question 
of  consideration,  received  the  vote  only  of  North  Carolina.  It 
seems,  however,  to  have  suggested  some  of  the  best  features  of 
the  admirable  system  which  was  afterwards  adopted. 

Of  these  several  legislative  acts,  there  is  no  one,  perhaps,  as 
interesting  as  that  which  proposes,  in  the  form  of  instructions 
to  our  ministers,  improvements  in  international  law,  whether 
we  consider  the  public  benefits  which  would  result  from  them,  or 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  169 

the  enlightened  views  which  dictated  them.*  The  report 
drawn  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  adopted  by  Congress,  recommended 
that  the  United  States  should  enter  into  treaties  with  all  those 
European  powers  with  whom  they  had  not  yet  been  formed, 
and  that  both  with  those  powers,  and  those  with  whom  treaties 
had  been  already  formed,  the  following  stipulations  be  made: 

1.  Free  admission  of  the  ships  and  merchandise  of  one  party 
into  the  ports  of  the  other,  on  paying  duties,  as  the  most  favoured 
nation. 

2.  A  more  qualified  reciprocity,  as  to  the  nations  which  hold 
territorial  possessions  in  America. 

3.  That  in  all  such  treaties,  and  in  every  case  arising  under 
them,  the  United  States  be  considered  as  one  nation,  upon  the 
principles  of  the  federal  constitution. 

4.  That  private  property  and  industry  be  protected,  and 
privateering  be  abolished. 

5.  Contraband  articles  no  longer  to  be  liable  to  confiscation; 
but  liable  to  be  detained  on  paying  their  value.     As  to  all  other 
articles,  that  free  ships  should  make  free  goods.     Blockades 
to  be  defined,  and  the  rights  of  neutrals  protected. 

7-  Aliens  to  be  allowed  to  dispose  of  lands  to  which  they  may 
be  heirs. 

8.  That  such  treaties  be  limited  to  ten,  or  at  most  fifteen 
years. 

While  Mr.  Jefferson  was  at  Annapolis,  he  wrote  to  General 
Washington  in  April,  1784,  on  the  subject  of  the  Cincinnati 
Association,  recently  established,  in  answer  to  one  from  the 
General.  It  is  well  known  that  at  the  termination  of  the  war, 
the  officers  of  the  American  army,  when  about  to  separate, 
many  of  them,  forever,  with  a  view  of  keeping  alive  the  recol- 
lection of  their  past  dangers  and  their  common  triumph,  and 
of  binding  themselves  together  in  bands  that  might  resist  the 
effects  of  time  and  separation,  agreed  to  form  a  society,  which, 

*  Mr.  Jefferson,  in  his  letter  to  President  Adams,  dated  March  30, 1826, 
modestly  gives  Dr.  Franklin  the  credit  of  originating  these  beneficent 
principles  of  public  policy,  and  he  is  certainly  entitled  to  much  of  it,  but 
a  part  of  it  seems'also  justly  due  to  Mr.  Jefferson  himself. 
VOL.  I.— 22 


170  THE  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

in  reference  to  the  transition  made  by  most  of  them  from  the 
occupation  of  husbandry  to  that  of  arms,  took  its  name  from 
the  Roman  Cincinnatus.  Naturally  inclining  to  mingle  with 
it  somewhat  of  military  show  and  distinction,  they  called  the 
society  an  order;  thus  indicating  that  it  was  an  honour  and  a 
privilege;  and  in  imitation  of  the  honours  of  knighthood  and 
similar  personal  distinctions,  they  provided  an  external  badge, 
which  was  of  the  character  of  the  emblems  worn  by  the  knights 
and  other  privileged  orders  of  Europe.  Had  they  stopt  here, 
it  is  likely  that  their  institution  must  have  merely  submitted  to 
the  silent  envy  of  the  rest  of  the  community,  excluded  from  a 
similar  honour,  or  to  the  accusation  of  ostentatiously  proclaiming 
their  own  past  services.  But,  by.  way  of  perpetuating  the 
society  which  was  thus  to  commemorate  their  former  friend- 
ship and  public  services,  they  provided  that  the  eldest  son  of 
every  deceased  member  should  also  be  a  member,  and  that  the 
privilege  should  be  transmitted  by  descent  forever.  This  fea- 
ture, which  would  have  been  certain,  if  it  had  succeeded  in  its 
purpose  of  perpetuating  honourable  distinction,  to  have  increased 
the  odium  of  the  society,  or  order,  with  future  generations,  was 
even  now  offensive  to  that  quick  sense  which  "snuffs  the  ap- 
proach of  tyranny  in  every  tainted  breeze."  The  first  public 
notice  of  this  society  was  by  Judge  Burke,  of  South  Carolina, 
afterwards  a  member  of  Congress  from  that  state,  in  a  pamphlet 
in  which  he  endeavoured  to  show  that  it  contained  the  germ  of 
a  future  privileged  aristocracy,  and  that  the  noxious  plant 
should  be  nipt  in  the  bud,  before  it  was  allowed  to  take  root 
in  our  soil.  The  society  was  viewed  with  a  certain  degree  of 
disfavour  before,  and  this  appeal  added  jealousy  and  alarm  to 
ill-will,  and  furnished  its  opponents  with  arguments.  After  that 
time,  there  was  a  plain  expression  of  popular  disapprobation. 
The  society  was  even  publicly  censured  by  the  governor  of 
South  Carolina,  in  his  address  to  the  Assembly,  and  by  the 
legislatures  of  three  states,  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  and 
Pennsylvania.  General  Washington,  to  whom  this  republican 
jealousy  was  not  likely  to  be  unknown,  or  to  be  disregarded,  on 
the  8th  of  April,  1784,  addressed  a  letter  to  Mr.  Jefferson,  on 


THE   LIFE   OF   THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  171 

the  subject,  inquiring  into  the  real  state  of  public  opinion,  as 
well  as  the  sentiments  of  Congress,  to  which  Mr.  Jefferson  replies 
at  great  length. 

In  this  letter,  Mr.  Jefferson l after  giving  credit  to  the  motives 
and  feelings  which  led  to  the  formation  of  the  society,  expresses 
his  doubts  whether  it  would  be  found  to  "foster  those  friend- 
ships it  was  intended  to  preserve."  Presuming  they  would,  at 
their  stated  meetings,  have  deliberations  and  debate,  he  re- 
marks, "the  way  to  make  friends  quarrel,  is  to  put  them  in  dis- 
putation under  the  public  eye."  He  then  frankly  states  the 
objections  which  were  urged  against  the  society:  "that  it  was 
repugnant  to  the  principles  of  the  confederation,  and  the  letter 
of  some  of  our  constitutions,  to  the  spirit  of  all  of  them:  that  the 
foundation  on  which  all  these  were  built,  being  the  natural 
equality  of  man,  the  denial  of  every  pre-eminence,  but  that 
annexed  to  legal  office;  and,  particularly,  the  denial  of  a  pre- 
eminence by  birth:  that,  however,  in  their  present  dispositions, 
citizens  might  decline  accepting  honorary  instalments  into 
the  order,  a  time  might  come  when  a  change  of  dispositions 
would  render  these  flattering,  when  a  well  directed  distribution 
of  them  might  draw  into  the  order  all  the  men  of  talents,  of 
office  and  wealth,  and,  in  this  case,  would  probably  secure  an 
engraftment  into  the  government:  that  in  this  they  will  be  sup- 
ported by  their  foreign  members,  and  the  wishes  and  influence 
of  foreign  courts:  that  experience  has  shown  that  the  heredi- 
tary branches  of  modern  governments  are  the  patrons  of  privi- 
lege and  prerogative,  and  not  of  the  natural  rights  of  the  people, 
whose  oppressors  they  generally  are:  that,  beside  these  evils, 
which  are  remote,  others  may  take  place  more  immediately: 
that  a  distinction  is  kept  up  between  the  civil  and  military, 
which  it  is  for  the  happiness  of  both  to  obliterate:  that  when 
the  members  assemble,  they  will  be  proposing  to  do  something, 
and  what  that  something  may  be,  will  depend  on  actual  cir- 
cumstances: that  being  an  organized  body,  under  habits  of 
subordination,  the  first  obstruction  to  enterprise  will  be  already 
surmounted:  that  the  moderation  and  virtue  of  a  single  cha- 
racter have  probably  prevented  this  Revolution  from  being 


172  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

closed  as  most  others  have  been,  by  a  subversion  of  that  liberty 
it  was  intended  to  establish:  that  he  is  not  immortal,  and  his 
successor,  or  some  of  his  successors,  may  be  led  by  false  calcu- 
lation into  a  less  certain  road  to  glory." 

He  states  his  impressions,  that  Congress  was  unfavourable  to 
the  institution,  and  that  although  they  might  not  express  their 
sentiments,  unless  forced  to  do  so,  they  would  probably  "check 
it  by  side  blows  whenever  it  came  in  their  way;  and  in  compe- 
titions for  office,  on  equal,  or  nearly  equal  grounds,  would  give 
silent  preferences  to  those  who  are  not  of  the  fraternity."  He 
concludes  with  the  opinion,  that  if  it  was  intended  to  continue 
the  society,  it  would  be  better  to  make  no  application  to  Congress: 
and  that  no  modification  of  it  would  be  unobjectionable,  except 
that  which  would  "amount  to  annihilation;"  for  such  would 
be  the  effect  of  parting  with  its  inheritability,  its  organization, 
and  its  assemblies. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  society  soon  afterwards  in  Philadelphia, 
the  hereditary  principle  and  the  power  of  adopting  honorary 
members  were  abolished;  but  the  society,  in  all  other  respects, 
was  preserved.  According  to  Mr.  Jefferson,  General  Washing- 
ton, convinced  that  the  society  was  disapproved  by  the  great 
mass  of  his  fellow  citizens,  used  his  influence  at  the  meeting  in 
Philadelphia  for  its  suppression,  and  notwithstanding  a  strong 
opposition,  such  would  have  been  the  result,  by  the  vote  of  a 
great  majority,  if  the  envoy  they  had  despatched  to  France, 
for  the  purpose  of  providing  badges  for  the  order,  and  of  inviting 
the  French  officers  to  become  members,  had  not  returned  at 
the  time;  and  as  these  invitations  had  been  cordially  accepted, 
it  was  thought  that  to  retract  the  offer  would  subject  themselves 
to  the  reproach  of  levity  and  ingratitude:  they,  therefore,  deter- 
mined that  the  society  should  retain  its  existence,  its  meetings, 
and  its  charitable  funds.  The  order  was  to  be  no  longer  here- 
ditary; it  was  to  be  communicated  to  "no  new  members;  the 
general  meeting,  instead  of  being  annual,  was  to  be  triennial 
only.  The  eagle  and  riband,  indeed,  were  to  be  retained,  be- 
cause they  were  worn,  and  they  wished  them  to  be  worn  by  their 
friends  who  were  in  a  country  where  they  would  not  be  objects 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  173 

of  offence;  but  themselves  never  wore  them.  They  laid  them 
up  in  their  bureaus,  with  the  medals  of  American  Indepen- 
dence, with  those  of  the  trophies  they  had  taken,  and  the  bat- 
tles they  had  won." 

Since  that  time,  the  society  has  excited  so  little  public  inter- 
est, or  even  notice,  that  its  history  is  with  difficulty  traced.  In 
some  of  the  states  it  is  yet  continued,  and  the  members  hold,  or 
until  lately  held,  triennial  meetings.  In  others,  it  has,  after  a 
lingering  existence,  been  suffered  to  experience  a  silent  dissolu- 
tion. That  of  Virginia  met  in  1822,  and  not  anticipating 
another  meeting,  took  steps  for  the  early  transfer  (long  before 
decided  on)  of  their  funds  to  Washington  College.  The  trans- 
fer was  accordingly  made  in  1824,  to  the  treasurer  of  Virginia, 
for  that  institution,  and  amounted  to  about  15,000  dollars. 


174 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Mr.  Jefferson  appointed  Minister  to  France.  Embarks  at  Boston. 
Meeting  with  Dr.  Franklin  in  Paris.  State  of  Society  there.  They 
endeavour  to  mak^commercial  treaties.  Their  partial  success  and 
its  causes.  Polishes  his  notes  on  Virginia.  Theory  of  the  degene- 
racy of  animals  in  America.  Statue  of  ~Washington.  Remains  sole 
minister.  Negotiations  against  the  tobacco  monopoly.  Asserts  the 
doctrine  of  free  trade.  His  qualifications  of  it.  His  opinion  of  a 
navy.  Sends  a  model  for  the  capital  at  Richmond.  The  Barbary 
powers.  Proposes  a  plan  of  resistance  by  combined  forces.  Causes 
of  its  failure.  His  multifarious  correspondence.  Negotiations  with 
the  Barbary  states.  Conference  with  the  French  minister  on  Ameri- 
can commerce.  Oglethorpe's  heirs.  Case  of  Lister  Asquith.  Taste 
for  country  life. 

1784—1786. 

ON  the  7th  of  May,  Congress  having  resolved  to  add  a  third 
minister  plenipotentiary  to  Mr.  Adams  and  Dr.  Franklin,  Mr. 
Jefierson  received  the  appointment;  and  this  was  the  fourth 
time  that  honour  had  been  conferred  on  him.  Two  days  before, 
a  proposition  had  been  made  to  reduce  the  salaries  of  foreign 
ministers,  from  eleven  thousand  one  hundred  and  eleven  dol- 
lars, to  eight  thousand.  During  the  animated  debate  on  this 
subject,  Mr.  Jefferson  appears  never  to  have  voted,  and  as  he 
was  very  regular  in  his  attendance,  the  probability  is,  that  he 
was  aware  that  he  was  to  be  nominated,  and  that  he  refrained 
from  motives  of  extreme  delicacy — his  vote  being  liable  to 
misconstruction,  which  ever  way  he  had  given  it.  The  salaries 
were  thus  fixed  at  nine  thousand  dollars,  at  which  they  have 
ever  since  continued,  though,  for  the  principal  missions  to  Eu- 
rope, it  is  confessedly  inadequate. 


THE   LIFE   OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  175 

On  the  llth  of  May,  Mr.  Jefferson  left  Annapolis  for  Phila- 
delphia, where  his  eldest  daughter  then  was.  He  decided  on 
taking  her  with  him  to  France,  and  leaving  the  other  two  in 
the  care  of  their  aunt,  Mrs.  Eppes.  He  proceeded  to  Boston, 
with  a  view  of  embarking  at  that  port.  In  this  journey,  he 
took  pains  to  inform  himself  of  the  nature  and  extent  of  the 
commerce  of  each  state,  and  even  went  to  New  Hampshire  and 
Vermont,  with  the  same  object.  They  sailed  on  the  5th  of 
July  in  a  merchant  ship,  bound  to  Cowes,  which  place  they 
reached  in  a  short  and  pleasant  passage  of  nineteen  days. 
After  a  brief  detention,  in  consequence  of  the  illness  of  Miss 
Jefferson,  they  proceeded  on  to  Havre,  and  remaining  there 
three  days,  reached  Paris  on  the  6th  day  of  August,  1784. 

He  lost  no  time  in  calling  on  his  distinguished  colleague,  Dr. 
Franklin,  who  was  then  living  at  Passy,  a  village  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Paris.  There  were  many  points  of  congeniality 
between  these  individuals,  and  they  seemed  to  have  contracted 
a  friendship  from  the  time  their  acquaintance  commenced,  in 
1775.  As  Dr.  Franklin  left  the  United  States  for  France  in 
the  following  year,  they  now  met,  after  a  separation  of  eight 
years.  Besides  the  pleasures  of  renewed  intercourse,  they  must, 
without  doubt,  have  felt  much  patriotic  congratulation,  that 
their  hopes  and  plans  of  1776,  which  were  then  involved  in  the 
uncertainty  of  the  future,  had  since  been  so  happily  realized, 
and  that  they  were  now  representing  their  country  as  an 
independent  nation,  at  the  most  polished  court,  and  the  most 
attractive  capital  of  Europe;  one  too,  which,  in  many  points, 
was  particularly  suited  to  the  tastes  of  both  the  ministers. 

At  that  time,  every  thing  called  philosophy,  whether  physi- 
cal or  moral,  was  greatly  in  vogue  in  Paris.  Talent  and  indus- 
try had  combined,  of  late  years,  to  cast  extraordinary  lustre 
over  the  studies  of  nature,  and  the  encyclopedists  had  given  to 
every  branch  of  speculative  science  an  eclat,  which  poetry  and 
literature  had  once  monopolized.  Never  had  a  public  minister 
been  as  popular  in  a  foreign  country  as  Franklin  now  was  in 
Paris.  His  discoveries  in  electricity  had  given  him  a  high  rank 
among  the  men  of  science;  and  his  reputation  for  political  saga- 


176  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

city,  and  original  views  in  government  and  political  economy, 
was  little  inferior.  These  recommendations  alone  would  have 
been  sufficient  to  insure  him  the  same  general  welcome  in  the 
polite  circles  of  Paris  that  Hume  and  Gibbon  so  warmly 
acknowledge  in  their  own  case.  But  when  it  was  recollected, 
that  he  had  also  borne  a  conspicuous  part  in  that  revolution 
which  had  dismembered  a  powerful  rival  of  her  most  consider- 
able colonies,  and  which  was  in  so  many  ways  gratifying  to 
France,  he  became  as  great  a  favourite  at  court  as  among  the 
savans  and  literateurs  of  Paris.  His  very  simplicity  of  manners, 
and  plainness  of  dress,  so  strongly  in  contrast  with  the  modes 
then  prevalent  in  the  world  of  fashion,  gave  an  additional 
charm  to  his  society,  partly  by  its  novelty,  and  partly  because 
they  had  more  of  the  ease  and  grace  of  nature,  to  which,  how- 
ever habituated  to  artificial  forms  of  society,  we  never  become 
insensible.  He  thus  became  recommended  by  fashion,  where 
fashion  had  supreme  sway;  and  the  youthful  and  the  aged  of 
both  sexes,  the  frivolous  and  the  gay,  as  well  as  the  grave  and 
learned,  paid  him  the  unfeigned  homage  of  their  respect  and 
admiration.  When  Mr.  Jefferson  reflected  on  the  extraordinary 
public  favour  his  colleague  enjoyed,  he  seemed  to  feel  it  a  mis- 
fortune that  he  was  to  succeed  him  as  the  sole  minister  of  his 
country,  conceiving  that  he  must  suffer  so  greatly  by  the  com- 
parison. 

It  was  with  this  feeling  that  he  answered  the  French  minis- 
ter, Vergennes,  who  adverting  to  Dr.  Franklin's  intention  of 
returning  to  America,  remarked  to  Mr.  Jefferson,  "vous  rem- 
placer  Mons.  Franklin,  je  crois."  To  which  he  promptly  re- 
plied, that  he  succeeded  Dr.  Franklin;  but  no  one  could  replace 
him.  But  although  no  one  could  be  expected  to  hold  the  same 
high  place  in  the  regards  of  the  Parisians  as  Dr.  Franklin, 
it  was  no  small  advantage  to  Mr.  Jefferson  to  have  such 
a  friend  to  introduce  him.  He  thus  at  once  obtained  a 
passport  to  the  most  intelligent  and  cultivated  society  in  that 
refined  metropolis;  and  probably  the  United  States  did  not 
then  furnish  another  individual  who  could  so  well  have  supplied 
Dr.  Franklin's  place,  at  the  court  of  Versailles,  as  Mr.  Jeffer- 


THE  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  177 

son.  He  had  gone  to  France  with  all  the  predilections  for  the 
country  which  national  gratitude  and  his  acquaintance  with 
the  most  accomplished  French  officers  in  America  could  inspire, 
and  all  the  resentment  against  England  that  war  and  a  sense  of 
national  wrong  could  provoke.  He  was  also  imbued  with  the 
same  combined  taste  for  letters  and  science  which  was  then  the 
reigning  mode  in  Paris.  We  accordingly  find  that  he  made  a 
very  favourable  impression  on  the  French  nation;  while  they, 
their  manners,  tastes,  and  modes  of  living,  obtained  a  place  in 
his  regards,  which  continued  to  his  latest  hour. 

As  Mr.  Jefferson  had  been  associated  with  Dr.  Franklin  and 
Mr.  Adams,  for  the  purpose  of  forming  commercial  treaties  with 
the  European  nations,  no  time  was  lost  in  giving  notice  of  his 
arrival  to  Mr.  Adams,  then  at  the  Hague;  and  he  soon  joined 
them  at  Paris.  Before  they  attempted  any  negotiation  on  the 
subject,  they  proposed  a  general  protocol  of  their  propositions, 
in  conformity  with  the  principles  prescribed  by  Congress. 

Their  first  attempt  was  to  improve  the  commercial  relations 
of  the  United  States  with  France.  But,  in  a  conference  with  the 
Count  de  Vergennes,  the  minister  for  foreign  affairs,  he  thought 
the  future  commercial  intercourse  between  the  two  nations  had 
better  be  left  to  the  legislative  regulations  of  both  parties, 
according  to  their  amicable  dispositions.  The  ministers  of  the 
other  European  powers  were  successively  sounded  on  the  sub- 
ject of  entering  into  commercial  treaties  with  the  United  States, 
but  the  proposition  was  received  with  a  coldness  which  discour- 
aged further  advances  by  all  of  them,  except  Prussia,  Denmark, 
and  Tuscany.  Frederick,  who  was  little  influenced  by  ordinary 
maxims  of  caution,  or  false  notions  of  dignity,  met  the  proposal 
cordially,  and  a  treaty  with  him,  through  his  minister  at  the 
Hague,  was  soon  concluded.  With  Denmark  and  Tuscany, 
negotiations  were  purposely  protracted  by  the  American  minis- 
ters, until  their  powers  expired,  from  the  apprehension  that 
treaties  made  with  these  powers,  on  terms  of  reciprocity,  might 
operate  injuriously  in  their  future  negotiations  with  the  great 
colony  holding  nations  of  Europe. 

The  unwillingness  which  it  appeared  now,  and  for  some  years 

VOL.  I.— 23 


178  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

afterwards,  that  other  nations  had  to  enter  into  treaties  with 
the  United  States,  was  attributed  by  Mr.  Jefferson  to  their 
ignorance  of  the  value  of  our  commerce;  but  it  seems  probable 
that  they  were  also  influenced  by  the  known  weakness  of  the 
bands  which  held  the  states  together,  and  the  great  probability 
that  they  would  either  dissolve  into  several  distinct  governments, 
or  that  they  would  be  united  under  one  of  a  more  stable  and 
energetic  character;  so  that,  in  either  event,  no  engagement 
could  now  be  formed  which  could  be  regarded  as  permanent. 

Mr.  Jefferson,  soon  after  his  arrival,  took  a  house  in  the  Cul 
de  sac  Tetebout,  near  the  Boulevards,  and  furnished  his  house  in 
a  style  of  expense  more  than  proportioned  to  his  salary.  His 
household  then  consisted  of  colonel  Humphreys,  the  secretary 
of  legation,  and  Mr.  Short,  his  private  secretary,  with  his 
daughter,  until  she  was  placed  in  a  convent,  for  her  education. 

One  of  the  first  objects  which  engaged  his  attention  was  the 
printing  his  notes  on  Virginia.  He  had,  for  the  sake  of  grati- 
fying a  few  friends  with  copies,  wished  to  publish  them  in 
America,  but  was  prevented  by  the  expense.  He  now  found 
that  they  could  be  printed  for  about  a  fourth  of  what  he  had 
been  asked  at  home.  He,  therefore,  corrected  and  enlarged 
them,  and  had  200  copies  printed.  Of  these,  he  presented  a 
few  in  Europe,  and  sent  the  rest  to  America.  One  of  them 
having  fallen  into  the  hands  of  a  bookseller,  in  Paris,  he  had  it 
translated  into  French,  and  submitted  the  translation  to  the 
author  for  revision.  It  was  a  tissue  of  blunders,  of  which  only 
the  most  material  he  found  it  convenient  to  correct;  and  it  was 
thus  printed.  A  London  bookseller,  having  requested  permis- 
sion to  print  the  original,  he  consented,  "to  let  the  world  see 
that  it  was  not  really  so  bad  as  the  French  translation  had  made 
it  appear." 

Having  presented  one  of  the  copies  to  General  Chastellux, 
the  author,  in  a  subsequent  letter  to  that  gentleman,  renews 
his  attack  on  the  proposition,  "that  animals  degenerated  in 
America,"  and  pays  a  respect  to  this  gratuitous  hypothesis, 
which  it  seemed  little  to  deserve.  Adverting  to  the  work  of 
the  Abbe  Raynal,  in  which  this  degeneracy  is  maintained,  he 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  179 

remarks:  "Your  knowledge  of  America  enables  you  to  judge 
this  question,  and  to  say,  whether  the  lower  class  of  people  in 
America  are  less  informed,  and  less  susceptible  of  information 
than  the  lower  class  in  Europe:  and  whether  those  in  America, 
who  have  received  such  an  education  as  that  country  can  give, 
are  less  improved  by  it  than  Europeans,  of  the  same  degree  of 
education."  So  far  as  the  question  respects  the  comparison 
between  the  aboriginal  man  of  America  with  the  European, 
Mr.  Jefferson  gave  a  great  advantage  to  his  opponents,  in  con- 
ceding the  natural  inferiority  of  the  negroes  to  the  whites;  it 
being  easy  to  admit  the  inferiority  of  one  race,  confessedly  as 
unimproved  in  the  arts  of  life,  when  it  has  been  already  ad- 
mitted in  another.  This  question  did  once  excite  the  sensibility 
of  Americans;*  but  it  is  now  deemed  to  have-been  so  settled  by 
a  more  enlarged  observation  and  a  sounder  philosophy  that  man 
here,  as  well  as  every  where  else,  has  all  his  faculties,  bodily 
and  mental,  improved,  according  as  circumstances  are  favour- 
able to  their  cultivation  and  developement,  that  it  is  seldom 
noticed  but  in  derision;  and  as  adding  another  to  the  many 
examples  of  the  "follies  of  the  wise." 

Mr.  Jefferson  seems  at  first  to  have  felt  a  delicacy  in  giving 
these  notes  a  general  diffusion,  less  perhaps  from  unwillingness 
to  appear  in  the  character  of  an  author,  than  because  he  was 
fearful  that  some  of  his  speculations  might  not  prove  to  the  taste 
of  his  countrymen;  especially  his  remarks  on  the  constitution  of 
Virginia,  on  domestic  slavery,  and  probably  those  on  religion. 
Without  doubt,  his  opinions  on  all  these  topics,  have  contributed 
to  swell  the  number  of  his  enemies,  though  some  of  them  have 
also  procured  him  friends,  both  at  home  and  abroad.  In  giving 

*  The  author  acknowledges  that  he  once  shared  largely  in  this  feeling, 
but  it  had  long  ago  subsided  into  indifference  after  he  saw  that  time, 
which  corrects  so  many  erroneous  theories,  was  silently  refuting  this. 
And  since  he  has  been  engaged  in  the  present  work,  he  has  found  in  the 
wisdom,  nobleness  of  sentknent,  energy  of  purpose,  and  ability  of  execu- 
tion of  those  whose  deeds  he  has  been  compelled  to  study,  (though  able  but 
briefly  to  notice,)  quite  as  good  grounds  for  maintaining  the  opposite  the- 
ory— that  man,  at  least,  by  being  transplanted  to  this  continent,  has 
improved  rather  than  deteriorated. 


180  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

General  Chastellux  permission  to  republish  a  part  of  the  notes 
in  the  Journal  de  Physique,  he  expressly  excepts  the  strictures 
on  slavery,  and  the  constitution  of  Virginia,  on  the  ground  that 
"they  might  produce  an  irritation,  which  would  indispose  the 
people  towards  the  two  great  objects  he  had  in  view."  He 
made  a  similar  remark  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Munroe. 

The  Legislature  of  Virginia  had  authorized  him  and  his  col- 
leagues to  provide  a  competent  person  to  take  the  statue  of 
General  Washington.  The  execution  of  this  request  devolved 
naturally  upon  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  he  accordingly  procured 
Houdon,  then  occupying  the  highest  rank  among  French  sculp- 
tors, to  go  over  to  America,  for  the  purpose  of  making  his  work 
a  copy  from  the  life.  This  commission  was  executed  by  him  in 
a  prompt,  judicious,  and  business  like  way,  and  the  result  of  the 
sculptor's  labour  now  adorns  the  Capitol,  or  state  house,  of  the 
metropolis  of  Virginia.  He  was,  at  the  same  time,  recommended 
by  Mr.  Jefferson  as  a  proper  person  to  undertake  the  eques- 
trian statue  of  General  Washington,  which  Congress  voted  in 
the  days  of  national  poverty  and  economy,  but  has  never  exe- 
cuted in  the  season  of  wealth,  and  lavish  expenditure.  It  would 
seem,  that  as  the  ability  increased,  the  inclination  diminished.* 

In  June,  1785,  Mr.  Adams  left  Paris  for  London,  to  which 
place  he  was  appointed  minister,  and  Dr.  Franklin  having 
obtained  the  permission  to  return  to  America,  which  he  had 
long  sought,  Mr.  Jefferson  remained  the  sole  representative  of 
his  country,  at  Paris,  in  the  character  of  minister  plenipoten- 
tiary. He  exhibited  in  this  situation  the  same  unwearied  indus- 
try which  has  always  distinguished  him,  and  to  which  he  owes 
no  small  portion  of  his  success  in  life. 

On  the  15th  of  August,  he  opened  his  commercial  negotiations 
in  a  letter  to  the  Count  de  Vergennes,  in  which  he  proposes  to 
place  the  trade  in  tobacco  on  a  footing  that  would  be  more 
advantageous  to  both  countries.  He  urged,  that  by  reason  of 
the  monopoly  which  the  French  govenynent  reserved  to  itself 
in  this  trade,  the  merchants  of  both  countries  were  discouraged 
from  importing  it  into  France,  and  exchanging  it  for  the  manu- 

*  The  people  seem  now  about  to  take  this  business  in  their  own  hands, 
and  to  make  amends  for  the  tardy  justice  of  their  representatives. 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  181 

factures  and  productions  of  that  country;  it  being  "contrary  to 
the  spirit  of  trade,  and  to  the  dispositions  of  merchants,  to  carry 
a  commodity  to  any  market  where  but  one  person  is  allowed  to 
buy  it,  and  where,  of  course,  that  person  fixes  its  price,  which 
the  seller  must  receive,  or  re-export  his  commodity,  at  the  loss 
of  his  voyage  thither.  Experience  accordingly  shows  that 
they  carry  it  to  other  markets,  and  that  they  take  in  exchange 
the  merchandise  of  the  place  where  they  deliver  it."  That 
France  has  bought  large  quantities  of  tobacco  from  England, 
which  she  has  paid  for  in  coin,  and  that  much  of  the  commo- 
dity, which  the  farmers-general  purchase  in  America,  is  also 
paid  for  in  coin.  He  urges,  that  this  exportation  of  coin  may 
be  prevented,  and  that  of  commodities  would  take  its  place,  if 
both  operations  were  left  to  the  French  and  American  mer- 
chants, instead  of  the  farmers-general.  "They  will  import," 
he  says,  "a  sufficient  quantity  of  tobacco,  if  they  are  allowed  a 
perfect  freedom  in  the  sale;  and  they  will  receive  in  payment, 
wines,  oils,  brandies,  and  manufactures,  instead  of  coin;  forcing 
each  other,  by  their  competition,  to  bring  tobacco  of  the  best 
quality;  to  give  to  the  French  manufacturer  the  full  worth  of 
his  merchandise;  and  to  sell  to  the  American  consumer  at  the 
lowest  price  they  can  afford;  thus  encouraging  him  to  use  in 
preference  the  merchandise  of  this  country."  He  states,  that 
these  benefits  to  trade  may  be  obtained  without  any  loss  of 
revenue  to  the  French  government,  as  it  may  be  increased  by 
an  impost,  which  he  recommends  on  a  plan  similar  to  that  pur- 
sued in  England,  by  which  the  tobacco,  on  importation,  is  de- 
posited at  the  king's  warehouse,  and  the  duty  on  it  is  paid,  as  it  is 
withdrawn  for  consumption;  by  which  mode  a  higher  duty  is 
levied  on  tobacco  in  England  than  in  France.  By  this  system, 
he  shows,  the  price  to  the  consumer  may  be  reduced  from  three 
livres  to  two  livres  the  pound,  without  loss  to  the  revenue:  that 
this  reduction  of  price  would  greatly  increase  the  consumption, 
probably  in  the  same  proportion,  and  thus  the  revenue  would 
be  proportionally  enhanced,  from  thirty  millions  of  livres  to 
forty-five  millions;  or,  if  the  consumption  were  not  increased, 
the  king  would  levy  on  his  people  forty-eight  millions,  where 


182  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

seventy-two  millions  are  now  levied,  leaving  twenty  millions  in 
their  pockets,  either  to  remain  there,  or  to  be  levied  in  some 
other  form,  should  the  state  of  the  revenue  require  it.  It 
would  also  enable  his  subjects,  annually,  to  sell  between  nine 
and  ten  millions  of  their  products,  instead  of  sending  abroad 
nearly  that  sum  in  coin,  which  eventually  finds  its  way  to 
England. 

He  examines  two  objections  to  his  proposition.  The  first  is, 
that  it  will  encourage  smuggling.  But  this  he  denies,  as  the 
temptation  would  then  be  less  than  at  present,  when  what  costs 
fourteen  sous,  may  now  be  sold  for  sixty,  but  will  then  sell  for 
but  forty.  Secondly,  that  it  will  render  the  farmers-general 
less  able  to  make  loans  to  the  public  treasury.  To  this  he 
answers,  that  if  the  farm  on  tobacco  be  estimated  at  one-eighth 
of  all  the  farms,  it  can  lessen  their  ability  only  in  that  propor- 
tion; and  it  is  to  be  considered,  whether  this  advantage  "is  worth 
the  annual  sacrifice  of  twenty-four  millions;  or,  if  a  much 
smaller  sacrifice  to  other  moneyed  men  will  not  produce  the  same 
loans  of  money  in  the  ordinary  way." 

The  chief  advantage  expected  for  America,  is  an  increase 
of  consumption.  "The  other  markets  of  Europe  having  too 
much  influence  to  permit  any  augmentation  of  price."  "This," 
he  says,  "will  give  us  a  vent  for  so  much  more,  and  of  conse- 
quence, find  employment  for  so  many  more  cultivators  of  the 
earth:  and  in  whatever  proportion  it  increases  this  production 
for  us,  in  the  same  proportion  will  it  procure  additional  vent  for 
the  merchandise  of  France,  and  employment  for  the  hands 
which  produce  it."  He  expects  too,  that  by  bringing  our  mer- 
chants to  France,  "they  would  procure  a  number  of  commodities 
in  exchange,  better  in  kind,  and  cheaper  in  price."  He  also 
hoped,  that  it  would  unite  the  two  nations  still  closer  in  friend- 
ship, by  binding  them  in  interest.  "In  truth,"  he  adds,  "no  two 
countries  are  better  calculated  for  the  exchanges  of  commerce. 
France  wants  rice,  tobacco,  potash,  firs,  and  ship  timber.  We 
want  wines,  brandies,  oils,  and  manufactures.  There  is  an 
affection  too  between  the  two  people,  which  disposes  them  to 
favour  one  another."  These  views  seem  to  be  in  accordance 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  183 

with  sound  principles  of  trade,  except  that  the  advantages  to 
France,  in  the  increased  sale  of  her  products,  in  consequence 
of  an  increased  consumption  of  tobacco,  seem  to  be  greatly  over- 
rated. Nor  is  it  seen  how  there  could  have  been  an  increased 
demand  for  tobacco  in  France,  without  producing  some  increase 
of  price  in  America.  Perhaps  these  considerations  induced  the 
French  minister  to  resist  the  proposition.  But  whatever  was 
the  cause,  it  failed  of  its  purpose,  and  the  policy  which  it  calls 
in  question  has  been  ever  since  pursued. 

Of  the  advantages  of  removing  all  restrictions  on  commerce, 
he  seems  to  have  been  fully  sensible.  In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Adams, 
in  July,  1785,  he  thus  speaks  of  the  policy  of  subjecting  aliens 
to  higher  duties  than  are  paid  by  citizens:  "As  far  as  my  in- 
quiries enable  me  to  judge,  France  and  Holland  make  no  dis- 
tinction of  duties  between  aliens  and  natives.  I  also  rather 
believe  that  the  other  states  of  Europe  make  none,  England 
excepted,  to  whom  this  policy,  as  that  of  her  navigation  act, 
seems  peculiar.  The  question  then  is,  should  we  disarm  our- 
selves of  the  power  to  make  this  distinction  against  all  nations, 
in  order  to  purchase  an  exemption  from  the  alien  duties  in 
England  only?  for,  if  we  put  her  importations  on  the  footing  of 
native,  all  other  nations  with  whom  we  treat  will  have  a  right 
to  claim  the  same.  I  think  we  should,  because,  against  other 
nations,  who  make  no  distinctions  in  their  ports  between  us  and 
their  own  subjects,  we  ought  not  to  make  a  distinction  in  ours. 
And  if  the  English  will  agree  in  like  manner  to  make  none,  we 
should  with  equal  reason  abandon  the  right  as  against  them.  I 
think  all  the  world  would  gain  by  setting  commerce  at  perfect 
liberty.  I  remember  that  when  we  were  digesting  the  general 
form  of  our  treaty,  this  proposition  to  put  foreigners  and  natives 
on  the  same  footing  was  considered:  and  we  were  all  three,  Dr. 
Franklin,  as  well  as  you  and  myself,  in  favour  of  it." 

In  a  letter  received  from  Mr.  Jay,  he  had  been  asked  "Whe- 
ther it  would  be  useful  to  us  to  carry  all  our  own  productions, 
or  none?"  and  he  evidently  shows  a  preference  for  the  Chinese 
policy.  This  opinion  may  seem  inconsistent  with  a  clear  per- 
ception of  the  benefits  of  free  trade,  but  on  this  occasion  he 


184  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

postpones  pecuniary  gain  to  what  he  deemed  higher  considera- 
tions of  national  policy. 

"We  have  now,"  he  says,  "lands  enough  to  employ  an  infinite 
number  of  people  in  their  cultivation.  Cultivators  of  the  earth 
are  the  most  valuable  citizens.  They  are  the  most  vigorous, 
the  most  independent,  the  most  virtuous,  and  they  arc  tied  to 
their  country,  and  wedded  to  its  liberty  and  interests  by  the  most 
lasting  bonds.  As  long,  therefore,  as  they  can  find  employment  in 
this  line,  I  would  not  convert  them  into  mariners,  artisans,  or  any 
thing  else.  But  our  citizens  will  find  employment  in  this  line, 
till  their  numbers,  and  of  course  their  productions,  become  too 
great  for  the  demand,  both  internal  and  foreign.  This  is  not  the 
case  as  yet,  and  probably  will  not  be  for  a  considerable  time. 
As  soon  as  it  is,  the  surplus  of  hands  must  be  turned  to  something 
else.  I  should  then,  perhaps,  wish  to  turn  them  to  the  sea,  in 
preference  to  manufactures;  because,  comparing  the  characters 
of  the  two  classes,  I  find  the  former  the  most  valuable  citizens. 
I  consider  the  class  of  artificers  as  the  panders  of  vice,  and  the 
instruments  by  which  the  liberties  of  a  country  are  generally 
overturned.  However,  we  are  not  free  to  decide  this  question 
on  principles  of  theory  only.  Our  people  are  decided  in  the 
opinion,  that  it  is  necessary  for  us  to  take  a  share  in  the  occu- 
pation of  the  ocean,  and  their  established  habits  induce  them 
to  require  that  the  sea  be  kept  open  to  them,  and  that  that 
line  of  policy  be  pursued  which  will  render  the  use  of  that  ele- 
ment to  them  as  great  as  possible.  I  think  it  a  duty  in  those 
entrusted  with  the  administration  of  their  affairs,  to  conform 
themselves  to  the  decided  choice  of  their  constituents:  and  that, 
therefore,  we  should  in  every  instance  preserve  an  equality  of 
right  to  them,  in  the  transportation  of  commodities,  in  the  right 
of  fishing,  and  in  the  other  uses  of  the  sea." 

But  he  thinks  that  wars  will  be  the  inevitable  consequence: 
"That  their  property  will  be  violated  on  the  sea,  and  in  foreign 
ports  their  persons  will  be  insulted,  imprisoned,  &c.,  which  out- 
rages we  must  resent.  That  the  only  way  to  deter  injustice 
will  be  to  put  ourselves,  by  means  of  a  naval  force,  in  a  situa- 
tion to  punish  it.  I  think  it,"  he  says,  "to  our  interest  to  punish 


THE  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  185 

the  first  insult;  because  an  insult  unpunished  is  the  parent  of 
many  others."  In  case  of  a  war  with  England,  he  thought  we 
should  abandon  the  carrying  trade,  because  we  could  not  pro- 
tect it.  "Foreign  nations  must  in  that  case  be  invited  to  bring 
us  what  we  want,  and  take  our  productions  in  their  own  bot- 
toms. This  alone  could  prevent  the  loss  of  those  productions 
to  us,  and  the  acquisition  of  them  to  our  enemy.  Our  seamen 
might  be  employed  in  depredations  on  their  trade."  He  after- 
wards adds,  "Our  vicinity  to  their  West  India  possessions  and 
to  the  fisheries,  is  a  bridle  which  a  small  naval  force  on  our 
part  would  hold  in  the  mouths  of  the  most  powerful  of  these 
countries.  I  hope  our  land  office  will  rid  us  of  our  debts,  and 
that  our  first  attention  then  will  be  to  the  beginning  of  a  naval 
force,  of  some  sort.  This  alone  can  countenance  our  people  as 
carriers  on  the  water,  and  I  suppose  them  to  be  determined  to 
continue  such." 

His  view  of  the  qonsequences  of  our  engaging  in  foreign  com- 
merce has  proved  to  be  prophetic,  for  we  have  experienced  all 
those  various  species  of  ill  treatment  which  he  mentions.  Every 
war  in  which  we  have  been  engaged  with  France,  with  Eng- 
land, and  with  the  Barbary  powers,  has  grown  out  of  injuries 
to  our  maritime  rights  and  interests.  But  the  question  is,  whe- 
ther the  whole  sum  of  gain  from  our  navigation  and  foreign 
commerce  has  not  exceeded  the  whole  sum  of  loss.  I  presume 
there  are  none  competent  to  make  the  comparison  who  will 
hesitate  to  answer  in  the  affirmative.  Besides,  the  expedient 
which  Mr.  Jefferson  suggests,  of  inviting  other  nations  to  carry 
on  our  trade,  when,  in  case  of  war  with  England,  we  could  not 
safely  be  our  own  carriers,  is  quite  as  impracticable;  for  the 
same  dominant  power  on  the  ocean,  which  we  could  neither 
encounter  nor  elude  on  that  element,  would  be  able  to  blockade 
our  ports,  and  prevent  other  nations  from  bringing  us  their 
productions  and  taking  off  ours,  as  we  experienced  in  the  late 
war.  There  is  then  no  effectual  way  of  keeping  our  access  to 
the  great  highway  of  nations  open,  but  by  a  naval  force  that 
will  make  a  general  blockade  impracticable,  and  a  partial  one 
harmless,  whenever  the  means  of  internal  communication  shall 

VOL.  I.— 24 


186  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

be  improved  according  to  the  singularly  happy  capabilities  of 
our  country. 

The  change  which  Mr.  JefFerson's,mind  underwent  as  to  the 
policy  of  a  navy,  was  directly  contrary  to  that  of  the  party  with 
which  he  was  associated;  for  while  they  who  had  first  opposed 
it,  had,  under  the  influence  of  its  splendid  successes  in  the  late 
war,  afterwards  become  its  staunch  friends,  he  who  had  at  first 
deemed  a  navy  necessary  to  the  defence  of  our  commerce,  and 
the  resources  of  the  country  fully  competent  to  its  support,  after- 
wards, both  in  Mr.  Adams's  administration  and  his  own,  distrust- 
ed the  efficacy  of  this  species  of  defence,  and  continued  of  this 
opinion  until  the  capture  of  tlie  Guerriere,  when  opposition 
from  every  quarter  was  silenced  in  the  shouts  of  victory.  How 
far  this  and  other  brilliant  achievements  on  the  ocean  produced 
a  second  change  of  opinion,  there  is  no  recorded  evidence. 

He  was  not  suffered  to  give  his  time  exclusively  to  diplomatic 
concerns,  or  even  to  the  elegant  amusements  and  social  plea- 
sures of  Paris.  Numerous  commissions,  both  from  individuals 
and  public  bodies,  occupied  much  of  his  time  and  attention. 
Some  of  them,  however,  were  so  much  in  accordance  with  his 
own  tastes  and  predilections,  that  he  found  more  pleasure  than 
annoyance  in  fulfilling  them.  Of  this  character  was  an  appli- 
cation from  those  who  had  the  direction  of  the  new  state  house, 
or  capitol,  which  was  about  to  be  erected  in  his  native  state.  As 
he  had  in  his  notes  been  somewhat  of  a  critic  in  architecture,  and 
ha'd  declared  that  "the  genius  of  the  art  seemed  to  have  shed  its 
maledictions  over  the  land  of  his  birth,"  these  gentlemen  were 
induced  to  request  him  to  furnish  a  plan  for  the  proposed  building. 
He  promptly  undertook  the  office,  and  with  his  usual  diligence, 
and  more  than  usual  ardour,  set  about  providing  all  that  he 
knew  his  own  country  then  to  want,  that  is,  both  models,  work- 
men, and  some  of  the  materials.  He  applied  to  an  architect  of 
reputation,  and,  under  the  influence  of  his  extreme  partiality 
for  Grecian  architecture,  they  selected  as  a  model  the  Maison 
quarree  of  Nismes,  which  he  pronounces  "one  of  the  most  beau- 
tiful, if  not  the  most  beautiful  and  precious  morsel  of  architec- 
ture left  us  by  antiquity."  As  this  building  was  originally  a 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSOX.  187 

temple,  and  contained  but  a  single  room,  to  which  its  form  is 
very  well  suited,  it  took  them  some  time  to  make  the  plan  of  the 
interior  "convenient  for  the  three  branches  of  government,"  and 
the  more,  in  consequence  of  "avocations  to  other  objects." 
In  the  meanwhile  he  learnt,  to  his  great  regret  and  mortifica- 
tion, that  the  directors  were  about  to  proceed  upon  a  plan  of 
their  own.  He  immediately  wrote  to  two  friends,  Mr.  Madison 
and  Mr.  Edmund  Randolph,  to  prevail  on  them  to  arrest  the 
progress  of  the  work,  until  the  plans  then  preparing  could  be 
sent  on.  He  states  that  his  plan  is  not  only  more  beautiful  than 
the  one  the  directors  proposed,  but  more  convenient,  and  would 
not  cost  more  than  two-thirds  as  much.  Beside?,  he  asks,  "how 
is  a  taste  in  this  beautiful  art  to  be  formed  in  our  countrymen, 
unless  we  avail  ourselves  of  every  occasion  when  public  build- 
ings are  to  be  erected,  of  presenting  to  them  models  for  their 
study  and  imitation?"  To  Mr.  Madison  he  remarks,  "You  sec 
I  am  an  enthusiast  on  the  subject  of  the  arts.  But  it  is  an  en-, 
thusiasm  of  which  I  am  not  ashamed,  as  its  object  is  to  improve 
the  'taste  of  my  countrymen,  to  increase  their  reputation,  to 
reconcile  to  them  the  respect  of  the  world,  and  procure  them 
its  praise."  The  appeal  was  successful,  and  his  plan  was  adopt- 
ed, but  the  work  being  committed  to  inexperienced  hands,  was 
not  well  executed;  and  two  or  three  deviations  from  the  model, 
in  points  not  deemed  by  them  material,  have  somewhat  impaired 
its  beauty.  Nor  does  this  class  of  edifices  seem  to  be  as  well 
suited  to  a  number  of  unconnected  apartments  as  it  is  for  a 
single  room,  for  which  it  was  always  designed  in  the  temples  of 
antiquity;  and  hence  this  incongruity  in  the  capitol  of  Richmond, 
that  while,  to  suit  the  arrangement  of  the  interior,  the  entrance 
from  without  is  at  the  sides  of  the  building,  the  portico,  which 
is  the  sign  of  the  entrance,  is  at  the  end. 

After  his  colleagues  left  him,  and  his  diplomatic  duties  were 
limited  to  our  relations  with  France,  his  efforts  were  principally 
directed  to  obtain  the  admission  of  our  principal  staples  into 
that  country  on  favourable  terms,  as  also  a  trade  to  the  French 
colonies.  In  these  efibrts  he  acknowledges  the  active  and  zeal- 
ous co-operation  of  the  Marquis  de  La  Fayette,  who  seemed  to 


188  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

be  actuated  by  the  same  regard  for  his  adopted,  as  his  native 
country.  He  does  justice  also  to  the  good  dispositions  of  the 
Count  de  Vergenncs,  and  the  French  government  generally. 

In  consequence  of  the  capture  of  two  American  vessels  in  the 
Mediterranean  by  the  Barbary  cruisers,  Mr.  Jefferson's  attention 
was  forcibly  called  to  this  subject;  and  feeling  a  great  repug- 
nance to  the  course  then  generally  pursued  by  the  European 
nations,  of  buying  exemption  from  their  piracy  by  tribute,  he 
proposed  an  association  among  those  powers  that  were  most 
exposed  to  their  depredations;  and  actually  proposed  articles  of 
confederation,  which  he  submitted  to  such  of  their  ministers  as 
were  at  Paris.  These  articles  proposed,  That  such  of  them  as 
were  at  war  with  the  Barbary  states,  or  any  portion  of  them, 
should  enter  into  a  convention  to  act  in  concert  against  those 
states,  beginning  with  the  Algerines.  2.  That  any  other  power 
might  be  permitted  to  accede  to  the  convention,  on  the  terms 
prescribed  by  the  parties  at  the  time  of  accession.  3.  The  ob- 
ject of  the  convention  should  be  to  compel  the  piratical  states 
to  peace,  without  price,  and  to  guarantee  such  peace  to  each 
other.  4.  The  combined  operations  to  be,  constant  cruizes  on 
their  coast,  with  a  moderate  naval  force,  previously  agreed  on. 
Six  frigates,  with  as  many  tenders  and  zebecs,  were  supposed 
to  be  sufficient.  The  force  to  be  divided  into  two  parts — one 
half  cruizing  while  the  other  was  in  port.  5.  The  force  agreed 
on  to  be  furnished  by  the  parties,  in  quotas  as  agreed  on.  6. 
To  prevent  the  miscarriages  arising  from  a  want  of  harmony 
among  officers  of  different  nations,  the  parties  to  consider  whe- 
ther it  would  not  be  better  to  contribute  their  quotas  in  money, 
to  be  employed  in  fitting  out,  and  keeping  on  duty,  a  single  fleet. 
7.  To  consider  also  the  policy  of  giving  full  powers  in  relation 
to  this  matter  to  their  ambassadors  and  ministers,  for  the  exe- 
cution of  this  convention,  and  the  vote  of  each  to  be  in  propor- 
tion to  the  quota  of  his  sovereign.  8.  To  avoid  the  embarrass- 
ment from  the  personal  solicitations  for  office,  there  should  be 
no  officers  for  the  council  of  Ambassadors,  such  as  commissioners, 
secretaries,  &c.,  nor  any  lucrative  appointments,  but  those 
whose  functions  were  exercised  on  board  the  vessels  of  the  fleet. 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  189 

9.  That  war  between  any  of  the  parties  to  the  convention  should 
not  extend  to  this  convention,  but  as  to  this  object  they  should 
be  regarded  as  at  peace.  10.  When  Algiers  was  reduced  to 
submission,  the  other  Barbary  states,  if  they  persisted  in  their 
piracies,  should  be  acted  against  and  in  like  manner,  separately 
or  together.  11.  Whenever  the  convention  would  interfere  with 
a  treaty  between  any  one  of  the  parties  to  the  convention  and 
the  Barbary  powers,  the  treaty  was  to  prevail,  and  the  party 
to  be  allowed  to  withdraw." 

Spain,  having  just  concluded  a  treaty  with  Algiers,  was  indis- 
posed to  the  plan.  It  was,  however,  approved  by  Portugal, 
Naples,  the  two  Sicilies,  Venice,  Denmark,  and  Sweden;  but 
they  expressed  apprehensions  that  France  would  not  favour  it, 
and  they  wished  the  sentiments  of  the  Count  de  Vergennes  to  be 
ascertained.  Mr.  Jefferson's  account  of  the  course  he  pursued 
to  this  object,  is  as  follows:  "I  had  before  taken  occasion  to 
inform  him  of  what  we  were  proposing,  and,  therefore,  did  not 
think  it  proper  to  insinuate  any  doubt  of  the  fair  conduct  of  his 
government;  but,  stating  our  propositions,  I  mentioned  the 
apprehensions  entertained  by  us,  that  England  would  interfere 
in  behalf  of  those  piratical  governments.  "She  dares  not  do  it," 
said  he.  I  pressed  it  no  further.  The  other  agents  were  satis- 
fied with  this  indication  of  his  sentiments,  and  nothing  was  now 
wanting  to  bring  it  into  direct  and  formal  consideration,  but  the 
assent  of  our  government,  and  their  authority  to  make  the  for- 
mal proposition."  The  plan  was  then  communicated  by  him  to 
Congress,  and  he  further  informed  them,  it  was  expected,  that 
we  should  maintain  a  frigate  towards  its  execution.  But  the 
United  States  were  then  in  no  condition  to  make  such  an  en- 
gagement. Their  recommendations  to  the  states  for  contribu- 
tions were  so  openly  neglected,  that  they  declined  entering  into 
a  contract  which  they  were  not  certain  of  punctually  fulfilling; 
and  thus  a  scheme  which  subsequent  events  shows  to  have  been 
so  practicable,  entirely  failed. 

In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Bellini,*  of  Williamsburg,  he  says,  that  in 

*  This  gentleman  was  a  native  of  Florence,  and  was  the  professor  of 
modern  languages  in  the  college  of  William  and  Mary. 


190  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

science,  he  thinks  the  mass  of  the  people  in  France  are  two 
centuries  behind  ours;  their  literati,  half  a  dozen  years  before 
us.  Most  persons  out  of  America  will  think,  that  in  both  of 
these  comparisons  his  affections  have  overleaped  his  judgment. 
But  he  has  done  more  justice  to  the  French  nation  on  the  subject 
of  manners  and  the  fine  arts.  "With  respect  to  what  are  termed 
polite  manners,  he  remarks,  without  sacrificing  too  much  the 
sincerity  of  language,  I  would  wish  my  countrymen  to  adopt 
just  so  much  of  European  politeness  as  to  be  ready  to  make  all 
those  little  sacrifices  of  self,  which  really  render  European 
manners  amiable,  and  relieve  society  from  the  disagreeable 
scenes  to  which  rudeness  often  subjects  it.  Here,  it  seems  that 
a  man  might  pass  a  life  without  encountering  a  single  rudeness. 
In  the  pleasures  of  the  table  they  are  far  before  us,  because, 
with  good  taste  they  unite  temperance.  They  do  not  termi- 
nate the  most  sociable  meals  by  transforming  themselves  into 
brutes.  I  have  never  yet  seen  a  man  drunk  in  France,  even 
among  the  lowest  of  the  people.  Were  I  to  proceed  to  tell  you 
how  much  I  enjoy  their  architecture,  sculpture,  painting,  mu- 
sic, I  should  want  words.  It  is  in  these  arts  they  shine.  The 
last  of  them,  particularly,  is  an  enjoyment,  the  deprivation  of 
which  with  us  cannot  be  calculated.  I  am  almost  ready  to 
say,  it  is  the  only  thing  which  from  my  heart  I  envy  them, 
and  which,  in  spite  of  all  the  authority  of  the  decalogue,  I  do 
covet." 

Mr.  Jefferson's  public  duties,  for  the  remainder  of  the  year 
1785,  after  he  was  left  the  sole  minister  of  his  country,  con- 
sisted in  endeavouring  to  obtain  admission  into  the  ports  of 
France  for  the  great  American  staples;  in  his  efforts  to  effect  a 
combination  of  the  European  powers  against  the  piratical  states; 
and,  what  may  also  be  regarded  as  a  public  duty,  in  taking 
measures  for  procuring  plans  both  of  a  state  house  and  public 
prison  for  his  native  state;  and  a  fit  person  to  make  the  statue 
voted  to  General  Washington.  Each  of  these  last  commissions 
seem  to  have  occupied  much  of  his  time  and  attention.  In  addi- 
tion to  these  public  services,his  letters  published  and  unpublished 
show  that  he  had  numerous  private  commissions  to  execute,  and 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  191 

that  he  communicated  to  his  correspondents,  in  different  parts  of 
the  United  States,  all  that  was  new  or  remarkable  in  the  annals 
of  science  and  literature.  The  great  number  and  diversity  of 
facts  of  this  character  adverted  to  show  at  once  the  variety 
of  his  knowledge,  and  his  unceasing  desire  to  add  to  it.  Thus 
we  find  him  noticing  astronomical  facts  in  the  Connoissance 
des  terns,  to  Dr.  Styles,  the  president  of  Yale  College:  to  others, 
a  mechanical  contrivance  for  propelling  boats;  speculations 
on  the  bones  found  on  the  Ohio;  and  the  effects  of  independence 
on  the  character  of  the  Greeks.  In  his  reflections  on  this  last 
subject,  his  admiration  of  the  classics,  joined  to  his  zeal  for  civil 
liberty,  lead  him  to  "expect  once  more  to  see  the  language  of 
Homer  and  Demosthenes  a  living  language."  To  Dr.  Price, 
he  writes  on  the  subject  of  domestic  slavery.  For  several 
friends  in  Virginia  he  purchased  books.  To  Mr.  Hartley,  the 
British  minister,  who  signed  the  treaty  of  Peace,  he  communi- 
cates a  full  account  of  the  public  measures  in  the  United 
States.  To  Van  Staphorst  and  Company,  the  value  of  Ameri- 
can certificates  of  debt.  To  Judge  Hopkinson,  of  Philadelphia, 
who  was  equally  devoted  to  music  and  to  poetry,  an  improve- 
ment he  had  proposed  in  musical  instruments.  To  several 
others  he  imparts  the  attempted  improvements  on  balloons,  then 
still  an  interesting  novelty  in  Paris,  and  the  melancholy  fate  of 
Pelatre  de  Roziere,  who  lost  his  life  by  the  balloon  in  which  he 
had  ascended  taking  fire.  To  one  young  friend  he  pens  a  dis- 
suasive against  coming  to  Europe  for  his  education.  To  an- 
other, a  nephew,*  the  minutest  details  as  to  his  course  of  studies. 
In  a  letter  to  the  governor  of  Georgia,  he  discusses  the  merits 
of  the  claim  of  the  Chevalier  de  Mezieres,  a  nephew  of  General 
Oglethorpe.  In  all  these,  his  mind  exhibits,  in  a  perspicuous  style, 
its  characteristic  acuteness  and  boldness,  with  an  occasional  tinge 
of  some  favourite  theories,  or  predominant  national  feelings. 

Dr.  Franklin,  Mr.  Adams,  and  Mr.  Jefferson,  had  been  au- 
thorized by  Congress  to  treat  with  the  Barbary  states;  but  their 
powers  were  at  first  unavailing,  for  want  of  money,  an  indis- 

*  This  was  the  oldest  son  of  his  brother-in-law,  Mr.  Carr,  who  is  men- 
tioned in  the  second  chapter. 


192  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

pensable  requisite,  at  that  time,  in  all  pacific  negotiations  with 
those  states.  Funds  being  afterwards  put  into  the  hands  of  the 
ministers  for  this  object,  they  appointed  an  agent,  Mr.  Barclay, 
to  treat  with  all  those  powers.  But  before  he  left  Paris,  Mr. 
Jefferson  having  received  intelligence,  in  September,  that  the 
Algerines  had  taken  two  American  vessels,  he  and  Mr.  Adams 
thought  it  best  to  let  Mr.  Barclay  proceed  to  Morocco,  and  to 
send  another  agent,  Mr.  Lambe,  to  Algiers.  One  of  the  vessels 
captured  and  carried  into  Algiers,  was  commanded  by  Richard 
O'Brien,  afterwards  known  by  the  name  of  Commodore,  and 
made  American  Consul  at  Algiers,  as  soon  as  peace  was  con- 
cluded with  that  country.  Congress  had  limited  the  sum  to  be 
expended  in  this  negotiation  to  80,000  dollars;  and  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son thought  one-half  might  be  paid  to  Algiers,  as  it  possessed 
half  the  power  of  those  states,  and  one-fourth  to  Morocco.  He 
prepared  instructions  to  Barclay,  who  was  restricted  to  the  sum 
of  20,000  dollars,  for  all  the  expenses  of  the  treaty,  whether 
by  presents  to  the  emperor,  or  his  officers.  He  was  further 
directed  to  make  inquiries  into  the  nature  and  extent  of  the 
commerce  of  Morocco,  and  by  whom  carried  on:  to  describe  their 
ports,  as  to  draught  of  water  and  fortifications:  their  coin:  their 
naval  force:  their  ships:  seamen:  times,  and  plan  of  cruising:  the 
treatment  of  their  prisoners:  the  mode  and  terms  of  redemption: 
their  land  forces  and  revenues. 

In  November,  1785,  Mr.  Jefferson  communicated  with  Mr. 
Adams,  on  the  subject  of  a  treaty  with  Portugal.  As  the  Por- 
tuguese minister  had  objected  to  the  importation  of  flour  from 
America,  because  his  nation  preferred  importing  the  wheat  and 
manufacturing  it  themselves,  he  endeavoured  to  prove  that  it 
would  be  to  the  interest  of  Portugal  to  import  flour,  by  the  fol- 
lowing considerations:  that  the  wines  of  Portugal  were  preferred 
in  America,  in  consequence  of  their  being  suited  to  our  hot  sum- 
mers: that  the  southern  states  would  take  manufactures  of 
cotton  and  wool,  and  the  northern  both  the  raw  material  and 
the  manufactures:  that  Portugal  would  have  a  good  share  of 
the  trade  of  supplying  the  southern  states  with  East  India  goods. 
His  argument  was  supported  by  a  reference  to  facts  and  details, 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  193 

which  showed  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  our  trade,  and 
which  could  not  have  been  acquired  by  one  of  his  previous 
habits  without  extraordinary  industry. 

In  December,  he  had  a  long  conference  with  the  Count  de 
Vergennes  on  the  subject  of  our  commerce  with  France.  The 
minister  complained  that  all  our  trade  centred  in  England, 
which  Mr.  Jefferson  thus  explained:  The  commerce  between 
two  countries  could  not  be  kept  up  except  by  an  exchange  of 
commodities.  If,  therefore,  the  American  merchant  was  forced 
to  carry  his  produce  to  London,  it  could  not  be  expected  he  would 
make  a  voyage  from  thence  to  France  with  the  money,  to  lay  it 
out  there;  and  in  like  manner,  if  he  could  bring  his  commodities 
with  advantage  to  France,  he  would  not  make  another  voyage 
to  England  with  the  money  to  lay  it  out  there,  but  would  take 
in  exchange  the  merchandise  of  France.  To  all  of  which  the 
French  minister  assented.  He  then  examined  in  detail  the 
principal  products  of  America,  for  the  purpose  of  seeing  which 
of  them  could  be  profitably  imported  into  France.  1.  Rice- — 
France  is  supplied  with  this  article  chiefly  from  the  Mediterra- 
nean and  from  Egypt.  2.  Indigo — Her  own  colonies  adequately 
supply  her  with  this  article,  and  of  a  better  quality  than  the 
American.  3.  Flour,  Jish,  and  provisions,  they  produce  in  suffi- 
cient quantities  at  home.  None  of  the  preceding  commodities 
therefore  furnish  the  materials  of  commerce  between  the  two 
countries.  He  then  considered  the  articles  which  France  would 
buy  of  America.  1.  Peltry  and  furs — In  consequence  of  the 
western  posts  being  still  in  the  hands  of  the  English,  we  have 
none  of  that  article  at  present.  If  possessed  of  these  posts,  we 
could  furnish  France  to  the  amount  of  2,000,000  livres  annually. 
2.  Potash — An  experiment  was  now  making  whether  this  would 
be  a  profitable  article  of  import.  3.  Naval  stores — Trials  are 
also  making  in  these:  the  result  doubtful.  4.  Whale  oil — The 
prospects  of  this  branch  of  trade  were  favourable,  since  the 
duty  in  France  had  been  reduced.  5.  Tobacco — The  letter  for- 
merly written  on  this  subject  by  Mr.  Jefferson  was  brought 
to  the  Count's  notice,  and  he  was  told  that  we  now  received 
2,000,000  of  livres  for  tobacco  purchased  in  the  United  States, 

VOL.  L— 25 


194  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

and  the  money  was  remitted  to  London:  that  the  tobacco  which 
France  bought  in  America  was  also  paid  for  in  coin;  but  that 
if  the  trade  were  open,  our  merchants  would  bring  it  to  France, 
and  take  merchandise  in  return.  The  minister  replied  that  the 
king  now  received  a  revenue  from  tobacco  of  28.000,000  livres, 
and  that  the  amount  was  too  considerable  for  them  to  tamper 
with  the  subject.  Mr.  Jefferson  again  pressed  the  advantages  of 
the  warehouse  system  as  to  revenue,  but  could  obtain  no  promise. 
The  Count  laid  a  stress  on  the  privilege  of  carrying  fish  to  the 
French  West  Indies,  and  when  the  discriminating  duties  in  fa- 
vour of  the  French  were  urged  by  Mr.  Jefferson  as  excluding 
us  from  the  trade,  he  replied,  that  their  fishermen  could  not 
furnish  the  quantities  required  in  the  Islands,  and  that  from  the 
greater  economy  and  management  of  the  Americans,  they  had 
been  able  to  sell  their  fish  at  25  livres  the  quintal,  while  the 
French  were  obliged  to  ask  36  livres. 

With  no  less  zeal  and  talent  the  American  minister  defended 
his  country  against  some  other  complaints  made  by  Vergennes, 
especially  against  the  charge  of  delay  in  the  administration  of 
justice.  He  maintained  that  it  was  far  more  expeditious  now 
than  before  the  revolution:  that,  in  the  case  of  debts  due  to 
British  creditors,  special  laws  had  been  passed  in  Virginia  to 
prohibit  their  recovery,  on  account  of  the  slaves  which  the 
British,  in  violation  of  the  treaty  of  peace,  had  carried  away;  but 
that  the  law  was  afterwards  so  modified  as  to  allow  the  recovery 
in  seven  annual  payments:  that,  as  to  all  other  creditors,  there 
was  no  unnecessary  delay;  and  he  presumed  that  the  complaint 
was  not  better  as  to  other  states  than  as  to  Virginia.  The  whole 
of  this  conference  was  conducted  on  his  part  with  equal  temper 
and  ability,  exhibiting  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  subjects 
discussed,  and  great  fertility  of  argument. 

Soon  after  this  conference  with  the  Count  de  Vergennes,  Mr. 
Jefferson  addressed  a  letter  to  the  Georgia  delegates  in  Con- 
gress, in  which,  after  referring  them  to  his  despatches  to  Mr. 
Jay,  containing  his  views  on  the  claims  of  Oglethorpe's  heirs, 
he  says,  "I  have  thought  it  best  to  present  to  them  those  claims 
in  the  least  favourable  point  of  view,  to  lessen  as  much  as  pos- 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  195 

sible  the  effects  of  a  disappointment:  but  I  think  it  my  duty  to 
ask  your  notice  and  patronage  of  this  case,  as  one  whose  deci- 
sion will  have  an  effect  on  the  general  interests  of  the  Union." 
The  interests  of  the  Chevalier  de  Mezieres  are  "espoused  by 
those  whom  it  is  our  interest  to  gratify." — "The  pecuniary  ad- 
vantages of  confiscation,  in  this  instance,  cannot  compensate  its 
ill  effects.  It  is  difficult  to  make  foreigners  understand  those 
legal  distinctions  between  the  effects  of  forfeiture,  of  escheat, 
and  of  conveyance,  on  which  the  professors  of  the  law  might 
huild  their  opinions  in  this  case.  They  can  see  only  the  outlines  of 
the  case,  to  wit:  the  death  of  a  possessor  of  lands  lying  within  the 
United  States,  leaving  an  heir  in  France,  and  the  state  claiming 
those  lands  in  opposition  to  the  heir.  An  individual,  thinking 
himself  injured,  makes  more  noise  than  a  state.  Perhaps,  too, 
in  every  case  which  either  party  to  a  treaty  thinks  to  be  within 
its  provisions,  it  is  better  not  to  weigh  the  syllables  and  letters 
of  the  treaty,  but  to  show  that  gratitude  and  affection  render 
that  appeal  unnecessary."  He  on  the  same  day  recommended 
the  case  to  the  patronage  of  the  Governor  of  Georgia. 

There  was  also  a  private  case  of  American  citizens  which 
gave  him  no  little  trouble,  and  which  conveys  a  lively  idea  of  the 
severity  of  the  laws  of  France  against  smuggling.  This  was  the 
case  of  Lister  Asquith  and  his  five  companions,  who  were  thrown 
into  prison  for  violating  the  revenue  laws  of  France.  Asquith  was 
a  citizen  of  Maryland,  and  being  involved  in  an  important  law 
suit  in  England  which  required  his  presence,  determined  to  go 
thither  in  a  small  schooner  of  his  own,  which  he  loaded  with 
tobacco  and  flour  for  Liverpool.  The  schooner  he  had  pur- 
chased as  measuring  59i  tons,  but  she  had  been  registered  at  21 
tons,  by  way  of  evading  the  double  duties  on  American  vessels 
in  England.  The  vessel  stopped  in  Hampton  roads,  and  learn- 
ing that  tobacco  would  be  a  better  article  than  flour,  the  latter 
was  landed,  with  a  view  of  substituting  tobacco;  but  a  storm 
coming  on,  they  were  driven  out  to  sea.  While  in  the  English 
channel,  another  storm  drove  them  a  second  time  to  sea,  when, 
in  distress  for  provisions,  and  unable  to  reach  England,  they  put 
into  France.  Asquith  went  to  Roscof  and  made  a  protest  of 


196  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

the  facts,  and  reported  his  vessel  and  cargo  to  the  custom-house. 
Having  represented  the  burthen  of  his  vessel  to  be  only  21  tons, 
he  was  told  she  was  liable  to  confiscation,  on  which  he  gave  a 
true  state  of  the  case,  and  was  permitted  so  to  report  her;  she 
was,  however,  afterwards  visited  by  other  persons,  who  seized 
her,  carried  her  to  the  pier,  and  to  that  restricted  both  her  and 
the  crew,  by  putting  a  centinel  over  them.  The  officers  then 
had  the  vessel  measured,  and,  by  omitting  the  cabin,  steerage, 
&c.,  reduced  her  burthen  to  nearly  one  half.  They  were  after- 
wards committed  to  close  prison  at  St.  Pol  de  Leon,  where  they 
had  been  confined  ever  since,  that  is,  for  three  months.  They 
were  accused,  first,  of  having  sold  tobacco  in  contraband;  and 
secondly,  as  having  entered  a  port  of  France  in  a  vessel  less 
than  thirty  tons  burthen.  The  evidence  of  their  selling  was 
some  loose  tobacco  in  their  possession,  which  they  satisfactorily 
explained. 

These  people,  however,  were  afterwards  sentenced  to  the 
gallics,  and  to  a  fine,  which  the  king  remitted:  their  vessel  and 
cargo  were  confiscated  to  the  farmers  of  the  revenue.  It  was 
not  until  the  latter  part  of  May  that  they  were  released,  and 
the  expenses  of  their  enlargement  and  subsistence  were  fur- 
nished by  Mr.  Jefferson. 

He  now  took  occasion  to  renew  his  correspondence  with  Baron 
Geismer,  who  had  shared  Mr.  Jefferson's  hospitality  at  Monti- 
cello,  while  he  was  a  prisoner  in  Albemarle.  He  tells  the  Baron 
that  he  is  savage  enough  to  prefer  the  woods,  the  wilds,  and 
the  independence  of  Monticello,  to  all  the  brilliant  pleasures  of 
the  gay  metropolis  of  France.  "I  shall  therefore,"  he  says, 
"rejoin  myself  to  my  native  country,  with  new  attachments,  and 
with  exaggerated  esteem  for  its  advantages;  for  though  there  is 
less  wealth  there,  there  is  more  freedom,  more  ease,  and  less 
misery." 

Declarations  of  this  kind  often  originate  in  insincerity  and 
affectation;  sometimes  from  the  wish  to  appear  superior  to  those 
sensual  indulgences  and  light  amusements  which  are  to  be  ob- 
tained only  in  cities,  and  sometimes  from  the  pride  of  seeming 
to  despise  what  is  beyond  our  reach.  But  the  sentiment  here 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  197 

expressed  by  Mr.  Jefferson  is  truly  felt  by  many  an  American, 
and  we  have  no  reason  to  doubt  it  was  felt  also  by  him.  There 
is  a  charm  in  the  life  which  one  has  been  accustomed  to  in  his 
youth,  no  matter  what  the  modes  of  that  life  may  have 
been,  which  always  retains  its  hold  on  the  heart.  The  Indian 
who  has  passed  his  first  years  with  his  tribe,  is  never  reconciled 
to  the  habits  and  restraints  of  civilized  life.  And  although  in 
more  artificial  and  advanced  stages  of  society,  individuals,  whe- 
ther they  have  been  brought  up  in  the  town  or  the  country, 
are  not  equally  irreconcilable  to  a  change  from  one  to  the  other, 
it  commonly  takes  some  time  to  overcome  their  preference  for 
the  life  they  have  been  accustomed  to:  and  in  many  instances 
it  is  never  overcome,  but  continues  to  haunt  the  imagination 
with  pleasing  pictures  of  the  past  or  imaginations  of  the  future, 
when  hope  gives  assurance  that  those  scenes  of  former  enjoyment 
may  be  renewed.  That  most  of  our  country  gentlemen,  past 
the  heyday  of  youth,  would  soon  tire  of  Paris,  and  pant  after 
the  simple  pleasures  and  exemption  from  restraint  which  their 
own  country  affords,  is  little  to  be  wondered  at;  but  it  is  the 
more  remarkable  in  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  more  clearly  illustrates 
the  force  of  early  habit,  when  it  is  recollected  that  he  found  in 
the  French  metropolis  that  society  of  men  of  letters  and  science 
which  he  must  often  have  in  vain  coveted  in  his  own  country, 
and  that  here  he  met  with  those  specimens  of  music,  painting, 
and  architecture,  for  which  he  had  so  lively  a  relish.  But  in 
these  comparisons  between  the  life  we  are  leading  and  that 
which  we  have  left,  or  are  looking  forward  to,  we  must  always 
allow  much  to  the  force  of  the  imagination,  and  there  are  few 
men  who  felt  its  influence  more  than  Mr.  Jefferson.  In  one  of 
his  letters  to  Mr.  Carmichael,  he  says,  "I  sometimes  think  of 
building  a  little  hermitage  at  the  Natural  Bridge,  (for  it  is  my 
property,)  and  of  passing  there  a  part  of  the  year  at  least." 


198 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Mr.  Jefferson  joins  Mr.  Adams  in  London.  Their  cold  reception.  Policy 
of  the  British  government  towards  America.  Treaty  with  Portugal 
not  ratified.  Unsuccessful  negotiation  with  the  Tripoline  minister. 
Mr.  Jefferson's  description  of  England.  His  contributions  to  the  En- 
cyclopedic Methodique.  The  progress  of  population  in  the  United 
States.  Inland  Navigation.  Elk  horns.  Live  oak.  Fossil  shells. 
Debts  of  Virginians.  New  federal  government  for  the  United  States 
proposed.  Houdon's  statue  of  Washington.  Proposes  a  donation 
to  La  Fayette.  British  debts  in  Virginia.  Objects  to  the  proposed 
extent  of  some  new  states.  His  opinion  of  the  powers  of  Congress. 
Act  of  religious  freedom.  Popular  instruction.  Harbour  of  Cher- 
bourg. Philosophical  dialogue.  Easterly  winds.  Connexion  be- 
tween the  Atlantic  and  Pacific.  The  Cincinnati.  His  schemes  of 
future  happiness.  Assists  Ledyard,  the  traveller — his  enterprises. 
Complains  that  his  despatches  had  been  published.  Carriage  wheels. 
1786—1787. 

MR.  JEFFERSON'S  first  official  act  this  year  was  to  join  Mr. 
Adams  in  London,  with  the  view  of  perfecting  some  treaties  to 
which  his  concurrence  was  necessary.  In  February,  he  received 
information  from  Mr.  Adams  that  there  was  a  prospect  of  form- 
ing treaties  with  Tripoli,  Tunis,  and  especially  with  Portugal. 
He  accordingly  set  out  a  few  days  afterwards,  and  arrived  in 
London  about  the  18th  of  March.  He  called  on  Mr.  Adams 
the  very  night  he  arrived,  and  again  the  next  day.  But  a  tem- 
porary indisposition  of  the  Portuguese  minister  delayed  their 
interview  with  him. 

His  visit  to  London  appeared  to  him  and  Mr.  Adams  to  afford 
a  good  opportunity  of  ascertaining  the  real  sentiments  and  ulti- 
mate determination  of  the  British  cabinet,  on  the  subject  of  a 
commercial  treatv  with  the  United  States.  He  remarked  to  a 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  199 

correspondent,  "there  is  no  doubt  what  that  determination  will 
be;  but  it  will  be  useful  to  have  it,  as  it  may  put  an  end  to  all 
further  expectations  on  our  side  the  water,  and  show  that  the 
time  is  come  for  doing  whatever  is  to  be  done  by  us  for  coun- 
teracting the  unjust  and  greedy  designs  of  this  country." 

On  this  occasion,  as  well  as  many  others,  he  showed  a  tho- 
rough conviction,  that  the  English  government  had  a  deter- 
mined hostility  towards  the  United  States;  and  this  belief  may 
help  to  explain,  and  in  some  measure  to  warrant,  his  own  ill- 
feeling  against  that  government.  In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Langdon, 
of  New  Hampshire,  in  September,  1785,  he  remarks,  "in  spite 
of  treaties,  England  is  still  our  enemy.  Her  hatred  is  deep 
rooted  and  cordial,  and  nothing  is  wanting  with  her  but  the 
power  to  wipe  us  and  the  land  we  live  on  out  of  existence. 
Her  interest,  however,  is  her  ruling  passion;  and  the  late  Ameri- 
can measures*  have  struck  at  that  so  vitally,  and  with  an  energy 
too  of  which  she  had  thought  us  quite  incapable,  that  a  possi- 
bility seems  to  open  of  forming  some  arrangement  with  her. 
When  they  shall  see  decidedly  that  without  it,  we  shall  suppress 
their  commerce  with  us,  they  will  be  agitated  by  their  avarice, 
on  the  one  hand,  and  their  hatred  and  their  fear  of  us,  on  the 
other.  The  result  of  this  conflict  of  duty  and  passions  is  yet  to 
be  awaited." 

In  the  same  month  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Izard,  of  South  Carolina: 
"England  shows  no  disposition  to  enter  into  friendly  connexions 
with  us.  On  the  contrary,  her  detention  of  our  posts  seems  to 
be  the  speck  which  is  to  produce  a  storm.  I  judge  that  a  war 
with  America  would  be  a  popular  war  in  England.  Perhaps  the 
situation  of  Ireland  may  deter  the  ministry  from  hastening  it  on." 

It  must  be  confessed,  that  he  had  but  too  much  ground  for  his 
opinions  of  English  hostility.  It  was  manifested  by  the  per- 

*  This  alludes  to  the  recommendation  of  Congress,  of  the  30th  of  April, 
1784,  to  the  states,  to  invest  that  body  with  the  power,  for  fifteen  years, 
of  excluding  from  the  ports  of  the  United  States  the  vessels  of  all  nations 
not  having  a  treaty  of  commerce  with  them,  and  also  of  passing  an  act 
on  the  principles  of  the  British  navigation  act.  At  the  date  of  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son's letter,  seven  states  had  passed  laws  in  conformity  with  the  recom- 
mendation, and  three  others  had  partially  complied  with  it.— See  Journals 
of  Congress,  March  3,  1786. 


200  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

petual  taunts  and  calumnies  of  their  journals,  and  the  increased 
difficulties  in  negotiation  which  American  ministers  experienced 
wherever  British  influence  prevailed.  It  was  indeed  impossible 
that  the  losing  party,  in  a  civil  contest,  and  a  contest  where  the 
stake  was  so  great,  could  feel  well  affected  towards  their  suc- 
cessful adversaries,  whether  they  regarded  their  own  previous 
injustice,  their  haughty  threats,  their  contemptuous  sneers,  or 
their  final  discomfiture  and  loss. 

All  that  he  met  with  in  England  seemed  to  confirm  his  pre- 
vious impressions.  He  writes  to  his  old  colleague,  Richard 
Henry  Lee:  "With  respect  to  a  commercial  treaty  with  this 
country,  be  assured  that  this  government  not  only  has  it  not  in 
contemplation,  at  present,  to  make  any,  but  that  they  do  not 
conceive  that  any  circumstances  will  arise,  which  shall  render 
it  expedient  for  them  to  have  any  political  connexion  with  us. 
They  think  we  shall  be  glad  of  their  commerce  on  their  own 
terms.  There  is  no  party  in  our  favour  here,  either  in  power 
or  out  of  power."  After  noticing  the  inveterate  hostile  feelings 
of  the  king,  he  adds,  "The  object  of  the  present  ministry  is  to 
buoy  up  the  nation  with  flattering  calculations  of  their  present 
prosperity,  and  to  make  them  believe  they  are  better  without 
us  than  with  us.  This  they  seriously  believe;  for  what  is  it 
men  can  not  be  made  to  believe?  I  dined  the  other  day  in  a 
company  of  the  ministerial  party.  A  General  Clark,  a  Scotch- 
man and  a  ministerialist,  sat  next  to  me.  He  introduced  the 
subject  of  American  affairs,  and  in  the  course  of  the  conversa- 
tion, told  me,  that  were  America  to  petition  Parliament  to  be 
again  received  on  her  former  footing,  the  petition  would  be  very 
generally  rejected.  He  was  serious  in  this,  and  I  think  it  was 
the  sentiment  of  the  company,  and  is  the  sentiment  perhaps  of 
the  nation.  In  this  they  are  wise;  but  for  a  foolish  reason. 
They  think  they  lost  more  by  suffering  us  to  participate  of  their 
commercial  privileges,  at  home  and  abroad,  than  they  lose  by 
our  political  severance."* 

*  Yet  strange  as  it  might  then  have  seemed  to  Mr.  Jefferson,  Great 
Britain  has  never  failed  since  the  peace,  except  during  the  late  war  and 
the  interruptions  of  our  foreign  commerce  which  preceded  it,  to  export 
more  goods  to  this  country  than  ehe  had  ever  done  when  they  were  colo- 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  201 

When  he  appeared  at  court,  he  saw,  or  thought  he  saw,  that 
"the  ulcerations  in  the  king's  mind  left  nothing  to  be  expected 
from  him.'"  "On  his  presentation  to  their  majesties,  at  their 
levees,"  he  remarks,  "it  was  impossible  for  any  thing  to  be 
more  ungracious  than  their  notice  of  Mr.  Adams  and  myself." 
He  adds,  "that  on  the  first  conference  with  the  Marquis  of  Car- 
marthen, the  minister  for  foreign  affairs,  the  distance  and  disin- 
clination which  he  betrayed  in  his  conversation,  the  vagueness 
and  evasions  of  his  answers  to  us,  confirmed  me  in  the  belief  of 
their  aversion  to  do  any  thing  with  us." 

In  his  official  communications  with  Mr.  Jay,  the  secretary 
for  foreign  affairs,  just  before  he  left  England,  he  thus  dwells 
on  the  supposed  unfriendly  feelings  of  the  British  government, 
arid  its  indisposition  to  treat  with  the  United  States.  "With 
this  country  nothing  is  done;  and  that  nothing  is  intended  to  be 
done  on  their  part,  admits  not  the  smallest  doubt.  The  nation 
is  against  any  change  of  measures;  the  ministers  are  against  it; 
some  from  principle,  others  from  subserviency;  and  the  king, 
more  than  all  men,  is  against  it.  If  we  take  a  retrospect  to  the 
beginning  of  the  present  reign,  we  observe,  that  amidst  all  the 
changes  of  ministry,  no  change  of  measures  with  respect  to 
America  ever  took  place,  excepting  only  at  the  moment  of  the 
peace,  and  the  minister  of  that  movement  was  immediately 
removed.  Judging  of  the  future  by  the  past,  I  do  not  expect  a 
change  of  disposition  during  the  present  reign,  which  bids  fair 
to  be  a  long  one,  as  the  king  is  healthy  and  temperate.  That 
he  is  persevering  we  know.  If  he  ever  changes  his  plan,  it  will 
be  in  consequence  of  events,  which,  at  present,  neither  himself 
nor  his  ministers  place  among  those  which  are  probable.  Even 
the  opposition  dare  not  open  their  lips  in  favour  of  a  connexion 
with  us,  so  unpopular  would  be  the  topic.  It  is  not  that  they 
think  our  commerce  unimportant  to  them.  I  find  that  the 
merchants  have  set  sufficient  value  on  it.  But  they  are  sure  of 

nies,  and,  of'course,  to  derive  more  benefit  from  their  trade;  and  though, 
had  they  remained  colonies,  the  same  trade  would  have  continued  to  in- 
crease as  it  had  done,  yet  the  increase  would  not  have  been  so  great  as 
it  was  after  their  independence,  when  they  had  new  sources  of  wealth 
opened  to  them. 
VOL.  I.— 26 


202  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

keeping  it  on  their  own  terms.  No  better  proof  can  be  shown 
of  the  security  in  which  the  ministers  think  themselves  on  this 
head,  than  that  they  have  not  thought  it  worth  while  to  give 
us  a  conference  on  the  subject,  though,  on  my  arrival,  we  ex- 
hibited to  them  our  commission,  observed  to  them  that  it  would 
expire  on  the  12th  of  next  month,  and  that  I  had  come  over  on 
purpose  to  see  if  any  arrangements  could  be  made  before  that 
time.  Of  two  months  which  then  remained,  six  weeks  have 
elapsed  without  one  scrip  of  a  pen,  or  one  word  from  a  minis- 
ter, except  a  vague  proposition  at  an  accidental  meeting.  We 
availed  ourselves  even  of  that  to  make  another  essay,  to  extort 
some  sort  of  declaration  from  the  court;  but  their  silence  is 
invincible." 

In  another  letter  written  on  the  same  day,  he  detailed  what 
had  taken  place  at  a  conference  of  Mr.  Adams  and  himself  with 
the  chairman  of  the  committee  of  American  merchants,  who 
called  on  them  with  their  previous  permission.  He  was  told  by 
the  American  ministers,  that  the  obstructions  thrown  in  the 
way  of  the  recovery  of  British  debts,  were  in  consequence  of  the 
refusal  on  the  part  of  England  to  deliver  up  the  western  posts, 
and  the  withdrawal  of  property  from  America,  contrary  to 
stipulation.  They  further  justified  those  legislative  acts  by  the 
utter  impossibility  of  making  immediate  payment,  from  the  scar- 
city of  coin  in  the  United  States:  that  they  had  been  desirous 
of  making  explanations  on  this  subject,  but  the  overtures  not 
having  been  attended  to  by  England,  the  states  had  been  obliged 
to  act  for  themselves.  On  the  suggestion  of  five  annual  pay- 
ments of  the  debts,  he  said  that  arrangement  would  be  accept- 
able. But  they  differed  on  the  subject  of  interest.  The 
American  ministers  insisted  that  interest  should  be  suspended 
during  the  war;  which  he,  of  course,  opposed.  The  subject  of 
the  future  commerce  between  the  two  countries  being  urged, 
he  said  he  had  no  authority  to  speak  on  this  matter;  but,  as  to 
the  arrangement  about  the  old  debts,  he  said  he  would  proceed 
to  Lord  Carmarthen's  on  that  subject,  and  the  ministers  should 
hear  from  him;  which,  however,  they  never  did. 

At  this  time,  the  largest  part  of  our  exports  went  to  Eng- 
land, and  she  almost  exclusively  supplied  us  with  manufac- 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  203 

tures.  When  then  she  found  the  trade  of  the  United  States 
so  profitable,  her  unwillingness  to  enter  into  any  commercial 
arrangements  with  them,  and  her  indifference  about  softening 
her  refusal  by  a  spirit  of  courtesy  or  conciliation,  can  be  attri- 
buted only  to  the  utter  want  of  power,  under  the  old  confede- 
ration, to  adopt  efficient  measures  of  retaliation;  and  so  long  as 
that  imbecility  continued,  it  was  easy  for  Great  Britain  to 
exclude  American  shipping  from  any  share  of  her  commerce. 
Since,  therefore,  she  derived  every  advantage  of  the  trade  with 
America  which  she  could  have,  she  had  every  motive  to  keep 
aloof  from  negotiation,  in  which  she  must  either  concede  some 
advantage  she  then  possessed,  or  her  objections  to  concede  it 
would  have  the  ungracious  appearance  of  refusing  terms  of 
reciprocity;  whereas  now,  her  advantages  seemed  to  be  the 
result  of  mere  municipal  regulations,  and  of  the  natural  course 
of  trade. 

As  a  further  evidence  that  these  were  the  considerations 
which  dictated  the  coldness  and  reserve  with  which  England 
received  every  overture  towards  negotiation,  a  difference  in  her 
course  was  perceived  as  soon  as  the  states  took  measures  for 
enlarging  the  powers  of  Congress  over  the  foreign  commerce  of 
the  union.  This  change  is  adverted  to  in  several  of  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son's letters. 

Our  ministers  were  more  successful  in  their  negotiation  with 
Portugal.  A  treaty  of  commerce,  on  terms  mutually  satisfac- 
tory, was  agreed  on  with  the  Portuguese  minister;  but  his 
government  refused  to  ratify  it,  through  the  influence  of  several 
noblemen,  who  were  the  owners  of  windmills  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Lisbon,  and  who  were  opposed  to  the  treaty,  because  it 
permitted  the  importation  of  flour  as  well  as  wheat,  by  which 
their  profits  would  be  diminished. 

In  their  conference  with  the  Tripoline  minister,  as  to  the  terms 
on  which  a  peace  with  his  sovereign  could  be  negotiated,  he 
demanded  the  sum  of  thirty  thousand  guineas,  and  as  much  for 
a  peace  with  Tunis,  for  which  he  undertook  to  engage.  This 
being  more  than  ten  times  as  much  as  the  American  ministers 
had  the  power  to  offer,  the  negotiation  was  soon  broken  off. 
They  considered  that  it  would  require  eight  times  this  sum,  that 


204  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

is,  more  than  a  million  of  dollars,  to  purchase  peace  with  all 
the  four  Barbary  states:  and  in  consideration  of  the  largeness 
of  the  amount,  as  well  as  the  uncertainty  of  the  continuance  of 
peace,  Mr.  Jefferson  very  naturally  expressed  the  opinion,  that 
it  might  be  better  at  once  to  compel  a  peace  by  arms.  He  also 
suggested  a  third  expedient,  that  of  abandoning  the  Mediter- 
ranean trade  to  other  nations. 

On  this  subject,  there  was  a  difference  of  opinion  between 
him  and  Mr.  Adams,*  the  latter  being  in  favour  of  buying  a 
peace  with  them  on  the  best  terms  we  could.  In  a  letter  to 
his  colleague,  of  July  11,  1786,  Mr.  Jefferson  supports  his  plan 
of  going  to  war  by  the  following  considerations:  that  the  course 
was  recommended  both  by  justice  and  honour:  it  would  procure 
us  respect  in  Europe:  it  would  arm  the  federal  government 
with  the  safest  of  all  instruments  of  coercion  over  its  delinquent 
members,  and  prevent  it  from  using  what  would  be  less  safe:  it 
would  be  less  expensive  than  any  other  plan,  and  equally  effec- 
tual. He  contended,  that  a  fleet  carrying  one  hundred  and 
fifty  guns,  one  half  of  which  to  be  in  constant  cruise,  would  be 
sufficient  for  the  object.  This  fleet,  for  six  months,  would  cost 
450,000^.  sterling,  and  its  annual  expense  would  be  300L  ster- 
ling a  gun,  equal  to  45,000/.  a  year.  As  some  marine  force 
would  be  always  indispensable,  it  was  only  the  excess  which 
should  be  charged  to  the  Algerine  war;  and  it  would  cost  nearly 
as  much  as  has  been  mentioned  to  buy  peace  of  them.  He  then 
refers  to  the  experience  of  France  forty  years  before,  when  Al- 
giers, having  been  blockaded  for  three  months  by  three  frigates, 
under  De  Massaic,  submitted  to  the  terms  he  proposed.  In  con- 
clusion, he  urged,  that  if  we  declared  war  against  Algiers, 
Naples  certainly,  and  Portugal  probably,  would  join  us.  The 
plan  of  purchasing  peace  was  however  adopted,  and  persevered 

*  It  is  probable  that  the  impression  produced  on  Mr.  Adams's  mind,  on 
this  occasion,  inclined  him,  at  that  advanced  age  when  the  recollection 
is  partial  and  confused,  to  regard  Mr.  Jefferson  as  the  father  of  the 
American  navy.  This  is  a  credit  which  perhaps  can  be  fairly  given  to  no 
individual;  but  he  has  a  far  better  claim  to  it  than  Mr.  Jefferson;  for  the 
navy  hardly  could  be  considered  as  a  distinct  branch  of  the  national 
force  before  his  administration,  and  np  to  that  time,  he  had  ever  been  its 
strenuous  advocate. 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  205 

in  until  the  year  1815,  when  Mr.  Jefferson's  course  was  finally 
and  successfully  pursued. 

On  this  question,  it  is  worthy  of  remark,  both  these  gentle- 
men took  the  sides  that  were  opposite  to  the  general  character 
of  their  temper  and  policy.  Mr.  Jefferson,  who  was  generally 
in  favour  of  peace,  was,  on  this  occasion,  the  open  advocate  for 
war:  and  Mr.  Adams,  who,  both  before  and  afterwards,  was 
among  the  most  strenuous  asserters  of  the  national  rights  and 
dignity,  was  willing,  in  conformity  with  the  usage  of  other 
nations,  to  become  tributary  to  those  contemptible  freebooters. 

Mr.  Jefferson's  account  of  England  seems  to  have  borrowed 
a  tinge  from  the  feelings  excited  by  his  cold  reception  at  St. 
James's,  and  his  disappointment  in  most  of  the  objects  of  his 
journey.  He  thus  describes  it  in  a  letter  to  his  friend  Mr.  Page: 
"I  returned  here  but  three  or  four  days  ago,  after  a  two  months' 
trip  to  England.  I  traversed  that  country  much,  and  own,  both 
town  and  country  fell  short  of  my  expectations.  Comparing  it 
with  this,  I  found  a  much  greater  proportion  of  barrens;  a  soil 
in  other  parts  not  naturally  so  good  as  this,  not  better  cultivat- 
ed, but  better  manured,  and  therefore  more  productive.  This 
proceeds  from  the  practice  of  long  leases  there,  and  short  ones 
here.  The  labouring  people  here  are  poorer  than  in  England: 
they  pay  about  one-half  of  their  produce  in  rent;  the  English, 
in  general,  about  a  third.  The  gardening  in  that  country  is  the 
article  in  which  it  surpasses  all  the  earth;  I  mean  their  plea- 
sure gardening.  This  indeed  went  far  beyond  my  ideas.  The 
city  of  London,  though  handsomer  than  Paris,  is  not  so  hand- 
some as  Philadelphia.  Their  architecture  is  in  the  most 
wretched  style  I  ever  saw,  not  meaning  to  except  America, 
where  it  is  bad,  nor  even  Virginia,  where  it  is  worse  than  in 
any  other  part  of  America  which  I  have  seen.  The  mechani- 
cal arts  in  London  are  carried  to  a  wonderful  perfection." 

But  the  extensive  application  of  science  and  mechanical  art 
to  purposes  of  utility  which  he  here  witnessed,  extorted  from 
him  the  liveliest  admiration  and  praise.  "I  could  write  you 
volumes,  he  says  to  Charles  Thomson,  the  well  known  secretary 
to  Congress,  on  the  improvements  which  I  find  made,  and 


206  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

making  here,  in  the  arts.  One  deserves  particular  notice, 
because  it  is  simple,  great,  and  likely  to  have  extensive  conse- 
quences. It  is  the  application  of  steam,  as  an  agent  for  working 
grist  mills."  ....  "I  hear  you  are  applying  the  same  agent  in 
America  to  navigate  boats;  and  I  have  little  doubt  but  that  it 
will  be  applied  generally  to  machines,  so  as  to  supersede  the 
use  of  water  ponds,  and,  of  course,  to  lay  open  all  the  streams 
for  navigation.  We  know  that  steam  is  one  of  the  most  pow- 
erful engines  we  can  employ;  and  in  America  fuel  is  abun- 
dant."* 

Some  short  time  after  he  visited  London,  he  returned  answers 
to  a  number  of  queries  which  had  been  addressed  to  him  by 
Monsieur  de  Meusnier,  author  of  the  article  Economic  politique 
and  diplomatique  in  the  Encyclopedic  Methodique.  They  relate 
to  the  powers  and  course  of  proceeding  in  Congress:  to  the 
paper  money  of  the  United  States:  the  amount  of  debts  due  to 
England:  the  continuance  and  extension  of  the  confederacy: 
the  character  of  the  constitution  of  Virginia.  To  all  these  he 
returned  satisfactory  answers;  and  on  the  article  "Etats  Unis" 
being  submitted  to  him,  (by  Monsieur  Meusnier,)  he  made 
notes  on  several  passages,  by  way  of  correction  or  illustration. 

Some  of  these  remarks  are  not  undeserving  of  notice,  as  cha- 
racteristical  of  the  time  or  the  writer.  One  of  his  answers,  in 
particular,  gives  a  fuller  and  more  accurate  history  of  the  paper 
money  issued  by  the  United  States,  than  is  to  be  met  with  else- 
where.f 

He  states  the  amount  of  debt  due  from  Virginia  to  Great 
Britain,  at  the  conclusion  of  the  war,  to  amount  to  two,  or  per- 
haps, three  millions  sterling,  which  was  nearly  as  much  as  all 
the  other  states  owed  together. 

He  denies  that  the  convicts  who  were  sent  to  America  were 
a  sufficient  number  to  deserve  mention  as  a  class  of  the  men 

*  While  the  application  of  steam,  as  a  moving  power,  has  been  far 
more  extended  and  multiplied  than  Mr.  Jefferson  could  have  anticipated, 
it  has  not  superseded  the  use  of  water,  which  is  found  to  be  a  much 
cheaper  mechanical  power  than  steam  in  this  country,  and  even  cheaper 
than  steam  is  in  England. 

t  See  Appendix  F. 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  207 

\vho  peopled  the  United  States.  It  was  in  an  advanced  period 
of  their  history  that  the  practice  begun.  He  questions  whether 
the  descendants  from  this  description  of  persons  now  amount  to 
four  thousand.  He  admits  that  indented  servants  formed  a  con- 
siderable supply.  These  were  persons  who,  being  anxious  to 
go  out  to  America,  but  who  had  not  the  means  of  defraying 
the  expense  of  the  voyage,  agreed  with  any  person  who  would 
advance  the  money  to  the  captain  to  serve  him  for  a  certain 
number  of  years,  and  this  agreement  being  made  by  a  writing 
which  the  lawyers  term  an  indenture,  they  were  called  indented 
servants. 

He  estimates  the  whole  cost  of  the  war  at  one  hundred  and 
forty  millions  of  dollars,  of  which  the  paper  money  emitted  by 
Congress  was  nominally  200,000,000;  that  issued  by  the  states 
supposed  to  be  of  the  same  amount;  equivalent  to  72,000,000  in 
specie;  the  public  debt  of  the  federal  government,  foreign  and  do- 
mestic,43,000,000,  and  the  debts  of  the  several  states  25,000,000; 
which,  for  the  eight  years  from  the  battle  of  Lexington  to  the 
definitive  treaty  of  peace,  was  seventeen  millions  and  a  half  a 
year.  He  gives  a  history  of  the  Cincinnati,  according  with  his 
letter  to  General  Washington  on  this  subject.  In  refuting  an 
assertion  in  an  English  journal,  that  the  population  of  the  United 
States  had  declined  since  1776,  he  shows  the  conjectural  esti- 
mates at  different  times.  The  supposed  population  in  the  thir- 
teen states  in  June,  1775,  was  2,448,000,  which  is  very  near 
the  number  that  may  now  be  calculated  from  more  accurate 
data  than  Congress  then  possessed:  for,  since  we  have  found  by 
the  subsequent  censuses  that  the  rate  of  increase  has,  since  1790, 
been  very  nearly  uniform,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  it 
was  equally  so  for  the  fifteen  years  pievious,  making  a  small 
deduction  for  the  effects  of  the  war.  Taking  that  ratio,  then, 
we  find  the  population,  on  the  1st  of  August,  1775,  to  be 
2,506,000. 

Mr.  Jefferson  here  ventures  into  some  speculations  on  the 
future  population  of  these  states,  when  the  subject  had  more 
novelty  than  at  present;  and  he  considers  that  the  territory  then 
possessed  by  the  United  States,  and  computed  to  contain  a  mil- 


208  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

lion  of  miles,  was  competent  to  the  support  of  one  hundred 
millions  of  inhabitants,  instead  of  thirty  millions,  as  the  author 
of  the  article  had  stated,  and  qualified  with  a  peut-etre.  He  at 
the  same  time  supposes  that  North  and  South  America,  south 
of  the  50th  degree  of  north  latitude,  contain  twelve  millions  of 
miles,  and,  by  the  same  rate  of  population,  they  are  capable  of 
supporting  twelve  hundred  millions  of  souls.  Though  this  esti- 
mate may  even  now  appear  extravagant  to  many,  yet  it  is  far 
short  of  that  computation  which  has  been  lately  made,  on 
plausible  data  too,  in  the  new  edition  of  the  Encyclopedia  Bri- 
tannica,  where  the  inhabitants  of  this  continent,  in  about  two 
centuries  more,  are  estimated  at  eighteen  hundred  millions! 

He  also  assumed  that  whenever  the  population  reaches  ten 
to  the  square  mile,  the  people  are  disposed  to  emigrate  to  un- 
occupied lands,  and  that  the  United  States  would,  in  forty  years 
from  that  time,  1785,  have  its  whole  territory  peopled  at  that 
rate.  At  this  period  he  supposed  that  the  people  would  not  be 
restrained  within  the  limits  of  the  United  States,  and  that  when 
the  population  of  both  continents  shall  have  reached  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  millions,  the  whole  country  will  be  settled. 

Subsequent  experience  has  shown  that  the  tendency  of  our 
population  to  spread  itself  over  vacant  territory,  is  not  so  great 
as  Mr.  Jefferson  has  here  supposed;  for,  in  sixteen  years  after 
this  time,  the  territory  of  the  United  States  was  carried  beyond 
the  Mississippi,  so  as  to  double  its  former  extent,  and  thus  the 
difficulties  whic'h  then  existed  against  emigration  were  removed; 
notwithstanding  which,  the  numbers  east  of  the  Mississippi  ex- 
ceed twelve  to  a  square  mile;  and,  judging  by  the  experience 
of  the  more  populous  states,  it  will  go  on  to  increase  until  it  may 
attain  four  or  five  times  that  number,  although  there  may  yet 
be  vacant  territory  within  their  limits.  According  to  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson's calculation,  the  whole  territory  of  the  United  States, 
which  is  estimated  at  something  more  than  two  millions  of  miles, 
would  be  occupied  when  their  population  reached  twenty  mil- 
lions; but,  from  our  past  experience,  when  it  has  attained  that 
population,  ('which  will  be  in  1846,)  there  maybe  half  a  million 
of  miles  of  unoccupied  territory. 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  209 

Some  of  the  most  interesting  parts  of  his  correspondence  may 
now  be  noticed  in  chronological  order. 

To  General  Washington  he  writes  to  ask  for  a  description  of 
Bushnel's  machine  for  propelling  boats.  He  congratulates  the 
General  on  the  prospect  of  the  Dismal  Swamp  Canal,  and  of 
making  the  Potomac  and  James  rivers  navigable,  all  of  which 
schemes  had  been  then  proposed,  and  warmly  supported  by 
General  Washington.  He  suggests,  in  addition,  a  canal  con- 
necting the  Cayahoga  and  Beaver  creek.  This  scheme  of  con- 
necting lake  Erie  with  the  Ohio  has  been  since  accomplished 
by  the  more  magnificent  scheme  of  one  entire  canal,  and  it 
follows  this  very  stream  of  Cayahoga  above  thirty  miles.  The 
connexion  thus  formed  is  at  a  point  on  the  Ohio  360  miles 
below  that  contemplated  by  Mr.  Jefferson.  He  also  takes  occa- 
sion, in  adverting  to  the  disposition  which  General  Washington 
had  recently  made  of  the  canal  shares  bestowed  on  him  by  the 
Virginia  legislature,  to  express  his  wonted  interest  on  the  subject 
of  education.  "It  is  an  axiom  in  my  mind,"  he  says,  "that  our 
liberty  can  never  be  safe  but  in  the  hands  of  the  people  them- 
selves, and  that  too  of  the  people  with  a  certain  degree  of  in- 
struction. This  it  is  the  business  of  the  state  to  effect  on  a 
general  plan." 

He  requested  Colonel  Archibald  Carey,  of  Chesterfield,  to 
send  him  "the  largest  pair  of  deer's  horns  that  he  could  procure, 
and,  if  possible,  the  stuffed  skin  of  one.  He  wished  also  for  a 
pair  of  elk's  horns,  with  a  view  of  supporting  his  opposition  to 
the  theory  of  Bufton. 

It  seems  that  the  live  oak  was  so  little  wanted  at  home  at 
that  time,  and  its  value  was  so  little  understood  in  France,  that 
General  Greene,  who  had  married  and  settled  in  Georgia  after 
the  peace,  had  proposed,  through  Mr.  Jefferson,  to  furnish  the 
French  government  with  this  invaluable  timber,  and  all  the 
success  he  could  obtain,  with  the  aid  of  La  Fayette,  was  to  send 
for  "samples  of  the  wood." 

With  the  celebrated  Rittenhouse  of  Pennsylvania  he  discusses 
the  origin  of  the  marine  shells  which  are  every  where  found  in 
the  elevated  portions  of  our  globe. 

VOL.  I.— 27 


210  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

Noticing  the  three  hypotheses — 1.  That  they  were  deposited 
there  in  the  general  deluge:  2.  That  they  are  the  remains  of 
animals  that  once  lived  and  perished  in  the  spots  on  which 
they  are  now  found:  3.  That  they  grow  or  shoot  as  crystals 
do — he  seems  to  yield  no  credit  to  any  solution  which  has  been 
given  of  the  phenomenon. 

To  Archibald  Stuart  of  Virginia,  afterwards  one  of  the  judges 
of  the  General  Court,  he  writes:  "American  reputation  in 
Europe  is  not  such  as  to  be  flattering  to  its  citizens.  Two  cir- 
cumstances are  particularly  objected  to  us:  the  non-payment  of 
our  debts,  and  the  want  of  energy  in  our  government.  They 
discourage  a  connexion  with  us.  I  own  it  to  be  my  opinion  that 
good  will  arise  from  the  destruction  of  our  credit.*  I  see  nothing 
else  which  can  restrain  our  disposition  to  luxury,  and  to  the 
change  of  those  manners  which  can  alone  preserve  republican 
government.  As  it  is  impossible  to  prevent  credit,  the  best  way 
would  be  to  cure  its  ill  effects,  by  giving  an  instantaneous  re- 
covery to  the  creditor.  This  would  be  reducing  purchases  on 
credit  to  purchases  for  ready  money.  A  man  would  then  see  a 
prison  painted  on  every  thing  he  wished,  but  had  not  ready 
money  to  pay  for." 

In  the  same  letter  he  also  entered  into  some  speculations 
concerning  the  separation  of  Kentucky,  not  only  from  Virginia, 
but  also  from  the  confederacy,  as  then  seemed  probable.  "Our 
present  limits,"  he  remarks,  "are  not  too  large  for  good  govern- 
ment, nor  will  the  increase  of  votes  in  Congress  produce  any  ill 
effect.  On  the  contrary,  it  will  drown  the  little  divisions  at 
present  existing  there.  Our  confederacy  must  be  viewed  as 
the  nest  from  which  all  America,  north  and  south,  is  to  be 
peopled.  We  should  take  care,  too,  not  to  think  it  for  the  in- 
terest of  that  great  continent,  to  press  too  soon  on  the  Spaniards. 
Those  countries  cannot  be  in  better  hands;  my  fear  is  that  they 

*  The  evil  of  running  in  debt,  which  is  always  prevalent  in  a  slavehold- 
ing  and  agricultural  country,  were  no  where  more  felt  than  in  Virginia. 
They  were  aggravated  by  the  course  of  the  trade  in  tobacco,  then  its  chief 
staple,  as  is  well  explained  by  Mr.  Jefferson  in  his  conference  with  Mons. 
de  Vergennes. 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  211 

are  too  feeble  to  hold  them  till  our  population  can  be  sufficiently 
advanced  to  gain  it  from  them,  piece  by  piece.  The  navigation 
of  the  Mississippi  we  must  have."  To  this  correspondent  he 
also  intimates  his  earnest  desire  of  having  the  skeleton,  skin, 
and  horns  of  an  elk. 

He  some  time  before  had  the  satisfaction  to  hear  that  the 
several  states,  finding  that  they  could  not,  under  their  existing 
confederacy,  protect  their  foreign  commerce  either  against  the 
injurious  regulations  of  other  nations,  or  the  rival  restrictions 
of  one  another,  were  likely  to  concede  to  Congress  powers 
adequate  to  these  objects.  In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Madison,  dated 
in  February,  1786,  he*  expresses  the  pleasure  this  intelligence 
had  afforded  him,  and  adds,  "I  will  venture  to  assert  that  there 
is  not  one  of  its  opposers,  who,  placed  on  this  ground,  would  not 
see  the  wisdom  of  this  measure.  The  politics  of  Europe  render 
it  indispensably  necessary  that,  with  respect  to  every  thing  ex- 
ternal, we  be  one  nation  only,  firmly  hooped  together.  Interior 
government  is  what  each  state  should  keep  to  itself.  If  it  were 
seen  in  Europe  that  all  the  states  could  be  brought  to  concur 
in  what  the  Virginia  Assembly  has  done,  it  would  produce  a 
total  revolution  in  their  opinion  and  respect  for  us.  And  it 
should  ever  be  held  in  mind,  that  insult  and  war  are  the  con- 
sequence of  a  want  of  respectability  in  the  national  character. 
As  long  as  the  states  exercise  separately  those  acts  of  power 
which  respect  foreign  nations,  so  long  will  there  continue  to  be 
irregularities,  committed  by  some  one  or  other  of  them,  which 
will  constantly  keep  us  on  an  ill  footing  with  foreign  nations. 

The  measures  which  immediately  led  to  the  formation  of  the 
present  constitution,  have  too  much  interest  to  be  passed  over 
in  silence.  Though  extending  over  a  period  of  more  than  five 
years,  it  is  thought  better  to  present  them  in  a  continuous  view, 
in  the  following  sketch: 

At  the  termination  of  the  war  of  Independence,  Great  Britain 
knowing  the  value  of  American  commerce,  and  fearing  it  would 
be  diverted  into  rival  channels,  was  willing  to  enter  into  ar- 
rangements with  the  United  States,  on  a  footing  of  reciprocity, 
and  even  to  depart  from  her  colonial  monopoly,  so  far  as  to  con- 


212  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

tinue  to  the  states  their  former  trade  to  the  West  Indies.*  But 
she  soon  found  that  she  had  nothing  to  fear,  in  the  way  of 
retaliation,  by  reason  of  the  limited  powers  of  Congress,  and  the 
difficulty  of  concerted  action  in  thirteen  separate  legislatures, 
whose  jealousies,  commercial  and  political,  were  no  longer 
repressed  by  a  sense  of  common  danger.  She  saw  her  advan- 
tage, and  profiting  by  her  own  restrictions,  and  our  want  of 
them,  excluded  American  vessels  from  her  colonies,  and  the 
importation  of  many  American  products  even  in  British  bot- 
toms. 

The  pride,  as  well  as  the  self-interest  of  America  was  aroused 
by  this  measure  of  British  policy,  and  various  attempts  at 
retaliation,  or  counteraction,  were  made;  sometimes.by  the  sepa- 
rate efforts  of  individual  states,  and,  at  others,  by  a  proposed 
enlargement  of  the  powers  of  Congress:  but  every  plan  failed. 
The  requisite  powers  were  indeed  promptly  granted  by  most  of 
the  states;  but  they  were  neglected  by  others,  or  so  clogged  as 
to  be  useless;  and  unanimity  was  required  to  alter  the  articles 
of  confederation.  As  to  the  states  themselves,  so  far  were  they 
from  co-operating  by  their  separate  legislative  acts,  that  they 
but  too  often  systematically  counteracted  the  regulations  of 
each  other,  and  in  laying  their  impost,  were  underbidden  for  a 
larger  share  of  the  trade  by  whomsoever  carried  on. 

The  public  mind  was,  however,  gradually  ripening  into  a 
sense  of  the  necessity  of  adopting  a  general  system  of  defensive 
measures,  when  in  January,  1786,  the  General  Assembly  of 
Virginia,  by  resolution,  appointed  eight  commissioners,  to  meet 
such  others  as  should  be  appointed  by  the  other  states,  for  the 
purpose  of  digesting  a  system  of  uniform  commercial  regulations, 
which,  when  ratified  by  the  states,  should  be  executed  by  Con- 
gress.f  The  resolution  having  also  directed  the  commissioners 

*  This  is  evinced  by  the  bill  introduced  into  Parliament  by  Mr.  Pitt,  in 
March,  1783,  for  a  temporary  regulation  of  the  commercial  intercourse 
between  the  two  countries. 

t  Judge  Marshall  states,  doubtless  on  good  authority,  that  this  propo- 
sition owed  its  first  suggestion  to  a  recommendation  made  by  the  com- 
missioners of  Virginia  and  Maryland,  who  formed  a  compact  in  March, 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  213 

to  propose  the  time  and  place  of  meeting,  they  accordingly,  in 
their  circular  to  the  other  states,  proposed  to  meet  at  Annapo- 
lis in  the  ensuing  September. 

It  appears  that  all  the  states  appointed  commissioners,  except 
Connecticut,  Maryland,  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia;  but  those 
only  of  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  and 
Virginia  attended.  They  assembled  on  the  1 1th  of  September, 
appointed  John  Dickinson,  of  Delaware,  their  chairman,  and 
after  some  deliberation,  not  deeming  it  "advisable  to  proceed  on 
the  business  of  their  mission,"  when  so  many  states  were  unre- 
presented, and  being  persuaded  that  the  mere  regulation  of  trade 
would  require  an  extension  of  the  powers  of  Congress,  they 
agreed,  in  a  joint  report  to  their  respective  legislatures,  to 
recommend  "a  convention  of  deputies  from  the  different  states," 
to  be  held  at  Philadelphia,  on  the  second  Monday  of  May  next, 
"to  devise  such  further  provisions  as  shall  appear  to  them  neces- 
sary to  render  the  constitution  of  the  federal  government  ade- 
quate to  the  exigencies  of  the  union."  Copies  of  this  report, 

1785,  respecting  the  navigation  and  jurisdiction  of  the  Chesapeake  and 
some  ofits  waters,  Avhile  on  a  visit  at  Mount  Vernon. 

Supposing  him  right,  it  is  curious  to  trace  the  successive  steps  by 
which  this  mode  of  organizing  a  plan  of  national  government  was  gradu- 
ally developed. 

1.  Virginia  and  Maryland  appoint  commissioners  to  regulate  the  navi- 
gation and  jurisdiction  on  the  waters  which  divide  the  two  states. 

2.  In  adjusting  these  points,  they  see  the  importance  of  a  uniformity 
in  their  impost  and  revenue  laws;  they  therefore  propose  a  further  com- 
pact with  a  view  to  that  object. 

3.  The  legislature  of  Virginia,  in  considering  this  proposition,  is  natu- 
rally led  to  wish  an  extension  of  the  regulations  of  the  impost  to  the  other 
states,  since  an  arrangement  limited  to  two  states,  would  merely  miti- 
gate the  evil,  not  remove  it. 

4.  When  the  commissioners,  who  met  at  Annapolis,  consulted  on 
giving  Congress  the  power  of  making  commercial  regulations,  they 
would  see  that,  to  give  that  power  efficacy,  they  must  grant  many  other 
powers.    They,  therefore,  propose  a  general  revision  of  the  articles  of 
confederation. 

5.  The  deputies  assembled  in  convention,  on  beginning  the  business  of 
reform,  soon  found  that  it  was  better  to  make  a  new  and  entire  structure 
than  to  repair  the  old  one;  and  their  decision  was  confirmed  by  the  peo- 
pie. 


214  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

signed  by  the  chairman,  were  transmitted  to  Congress,  and  to 
the  executives  of  all  the  states  not  represented.* 

On  the  21st  of  February,  1787,  Congress,  by  resolution,  de- 
clared such  a  convention  expedient.  On  the  25th  of  May, 
deputies  from  nine  states  had  assembled  at  Philadelphia,  and 
having  elected  George  Washington  their  President,  proceeded 
to  deliberate  on  the  form  of  a  national  government.  They 
were  subsequently  joined  by  deputies  from  all  the  other  states, 
except  Rhode  Island,  amounting  to  fifty-five  in  all,  who,  after 
a  laborious  and  anxious  session  of  nearly  four  months,  succeeded 
in  agreeing  on  a  federal  constitution,  to  be  laid  before  Congress, 
and  to  go  into  operation  when  ratified  by  nine  states. 
,  The  instrument  was  received  by  Congress  on  the  28th  of 
September,  1787,  and  by  them  submitted  to  the  several  states 
for  ratification.  It  was  ratified  by  Delaware,  Pennsylvania, 
and  New  Jersey,  in  1787;  by  Georgia,  Connecticut,  Massachu- 
setts, Maryland,  South  Carolina,  New  Hampshire,  Virginia,  and 
New  York,  in  1788.  Congress  having  these  ratifications,  took 
measures  for  electing  a  president  of  the  United  States,  and 
appointed  the  4th  of  March,  1789,  for  the  new  constitution  to 
go  into  operation. 

North  Carolina  ratified  the  constitution  in  November,  1 789, 
and  Rhode  Island  in  May,  1790. 

Adverting  to  the  statue  of  General  Washington,  which  Hou- 
don  had  just  finished,  he  spoke  of  the  several  inscriptions  and 
devices  which  had  been  proposed  for  it,  and  gave  the  preference 
to  the  following.  On  one  side  of  the  pedestal  a  Latin  inscrip- 
tion, which  he  thus  translates:  "Behold,  reader,  the  form  of 
George  Washington.  For  his  worth,  ask  history;  that  will  tell 
it  when  this  stone  shall  have  yielded  to  the  decays  of  time. 
His  country  erects  this  monument,  Houdon  makes  it;"  on  the 

*  The  individuals  who  have  the  honour  of  having  first  suggested  the 
convention  which  formed  the  present  constitution,  were  Egbert  Benson 
and  Alexander  Hamilton,  of  New  York;  Abraham  Clark,  William  C. 
Houston  and  James  Schureman,  of  New  Jersey;  Tench  Coxe,  of  Penn- 
sylvania; George  Read,  John  Dickinson  and  Richard  Bassett,  of  Dela- 
ware; Edmund  Randolph,  James  Madison  and  St.  George  Tucker,  of 
Virginia. 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  215 

second  side,  the  evacuation  of  Boston  in  basso-relievo,  with  the 
motto,  "Hostibus  primumfugatis;"  on  the  third,  the  capture  of 
the  Hessians,  with  "Hostibus  iterum  devictis;"  on  the  fourth,  the 
surrender  at  York,  with  "Hostibus  ullimum  debellalis." 

"I  am  persuaded,"  he  says  to  Mr.  Madison,  "that  a  gift  of 
lands  by  the  state  of  Virginia  to  the  Marquis  de  La  Fayette, 
would  give  a  good  opinion  here  of  our  character,  and  would 
reflect  honour  on  the  Marquis.  Nor  am  I  sure  that  the  day 
will  not  come  when  it  might  be  a  useful  asylum  to  him.  The 
time  of  life  at  which  he  visited  America  was  too  well  adapted 
to  receive  good  and  lasting  impressions,  to  permit  him  ever  to 
accommodate  himself  to  the  principles  of  monarchical  govern- 
ment; and  it  will  need  all  his  own  prudence,  and  that  of  his 
friends,  to  make  this  country  a  safe  residence  for  him.  How 
glorious,  how  comfortable  in  reflection  will  it  be,  to  have  pre- 
pared a  refuge  for  him  in  case  of  reverse."* 

Thirty-eight  years  afterwards  Mr.  Jefferson  had  the  satisfac- 
tion of  seeing  this  manifestation  of  national  gratitude,  on  a  much 
larger  scale,  at  a  time,  too,  when  it  was  much  more  acceptable 
to  the  object  of  it,  and  when  it  probably  received  the  first  im- 
pulse from  himself.f 

Having  been  informed  by  Mr.  William  Drayton  that  the 
South  Carolina  Agricultural  Society  had  elected  him  a  member, 
in  May  he  sent  them  the  seeds  of  a  grape  (Spanish  St.  Foin) 
which  he  thought  would  suit  the  climate  of  that  state,  and  en- 
deavoured to  procure  acorns  of  the  cork  oak;  justly  remarking 
that  "we  were  probably  far  from  possessing  as  yet  all  the  articles 
of  culture  for  which  nature  has  fitted  our  country;  that  to 
find  them  out,  requires  abundance  of  unsuccessful  experiments; 
but  that  if,  in  a  multitude  of  these,  we  make  one  useful  acqui- 
sition, it  repays  our  trouble." 

*  The  legislature  of  Virginia  had,  in  the  year  1781,  ordered  a  marble 
bust  of  La  Fayette  to  be  made  in  Paris  and  presented  to  him,  and  another 
for  the  state,  which  now  occupies  a  niche  in  the  same  room  of  the  capitol 
that  contains  the  statue  of  Washington. 

t  The  first  proposition  that  Congress  should  make  a  donation  to  Gene- 
ral La  Fayette,  appeared  in  the  little  paper  printed  at  Charlottesville, 
and  was  probably  suggested  by  Mr.  Jefferson. 


216  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

Aware  of  the  mass  of  debt  which  the  states,  generally,  and 
Virginia  in  particular,  owed  to  England,  he  thought  the  most 
effectual  remedy  for  the  evil  was  to  discourage,  and  even  inter- 
dict, the  trade;  and  thus  took  some  of  the  same  views  which 
have  since  recommended  the  adoption  of  the  tariff,  and  have 
been  urged  to  justify  it.  Speaking  to  a  Virginia  correspondent 
and  distant  relative,  Mr.  T.  Pleasants,  of  the  benefits  of  obtain- 
ing a  free  admission  of  our  tobacco  into  France,  he  remarks: 
"I  consider  it  as  the  most  effectual  means  of  procuring  the  full 
value  of  our  produce,  of  diverting  our  demands  for  manufactures 
from  Great  Britain  to  this  country  to  a  certain  amount,  and  of 
thus  producing  some  equilibrium  in  our  commerce,  which  at 
present  lies  all  in  the  British  scale.  It  would  cement  a  union 
with  our  friends,  and  lessen  the  torrent  of  wealth  which  we  are 
pouring  into  the  laps  of  our  enemies.  For  my  part,  I  think 
that  the  trade  with  Great  Britain  is  a  ruinous  one  to  ourselves, 
and  that  nothing  would  be  an  inducement  to  tolerate  it  but  a 
free  commerce  with  their  West  Indies:  and  that  this  being  de- 
nied to  us,  we  should  put  a  stop  to  the  losing  branch.  The 
question  then  is,  whether  they  are  right  in  their  prognostica- 
tions, that  we  have  neither  resolution  nor  union  enough  for  this." 
His  subsequent  remarks  are  still  more  at  war  with  the  maxim 
of  laissez  nous  faire.  "Every  thing  I  hear  from  my  own  coun- 
try fills  me  with  despair  as  to  their  recovery  from  their  vassal- 
age to  Great  Britain.  Fashion  and  folly  are  plunging  them 
deeper  and  deeper  into  distress;  and  the  legislators  of  the  coun- 
try becoming  debtors  also,  there  seems  no  hope  of  applying  the 
only  possible  remedy,  that  of  an  immediate  judgment  and  exe- 
cution. We  should  try  whether  the  prodigal  might  not  be  re- 
strained from  taking  on  credit  the  gewgaw  held  out  by  him  in 
one  hand,  by  seeing  the  keys  of  a  prison  in  the  other." 

It  seems  that  at  this  time  it  was  proposed  by  some  to  lay  off 
the  country  between  the  Atlantic  states  and  the  Mississippi,  in 
states  of  160,000  square  miles,  to  which  plan  Mr.  Jefferson  urges 
strong  objections  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Munroe,  dated  in  July. 
"You  would  surely  reverse  the  nature  of  things,"  he  remarks,  "in 
making  small  states  on  the  ocean,  and  large  ones  beyond  the 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  217 

mountains.  If  we  could  in  our  consciences  say,  that  great  states 
beyond  the  mountains  will  make  the  people  happiest,  we  must 
still  ask,  whether  they  will  be  contented  to  be  laid  off  into  large 
states.  They  certainly  will  not,  and  if  they  decide  to  divide 
themselves,  we  are  not  able  to  restrain  them.  They  will  end 
by  separating  from  our  confederacy,  and  becoming  its  enemies. 
We  had  better  then  look  forward  and  see  what  will  be  the 
probable  course  of  things.  This  will  surely  be  a  division  of 
that  country  into  states  of  a  small,  or  at  most,  of  a  moderate 
size.  If  we  lay  them  off  into  such,  they  will  acquiesce,  and  we 
shall  have  the  advantage  of  arranging  them  so  as  to  produce 
the  best  combinations  of  interest." 

His  notions  of  the  subordination  of  the  states  to  the  united 
power  of  the  whole,  even  under  the  old  confederation,  differ 
widely  from  those  of  state  rights,  and  independence  now  enter- 
tained. In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Monroe,  in  August,  in  speaking  of 
the  importance  of  a  navy  to  awe  the  Barbary  states,  he  ob- 
serves: "It  will  be  said,  there  is  no  money  in  the  treasury." 
There  never  will  be  money  in  the  treasury  till  the  confederacy 
shows  its  teeth.  The  states  must  see  the  rod;  perhaps  it  must  befell 
by  some  one  of  them.  I  am  persuaded,  all  of  them  would  rejoice 
to  see  every  one  obliged  to  furnish  its  contributions.  It  is  not 
the  difficulty  of  furnishing  them  which  beggars  the  treasury, 
but  the  fear  that  others  will  not  furnish  as  much.  Every 
rational  citizen  must  wish  to  see  an  effective  instrument  of 
coercion,  and  should  fear  to  see  it  on  any  other  element  than 
the  water.  A  naval  force  can  never  endanger  our  liberties, 
nor  occasion  bloodshed:  a  land  force  would  do  both."  On  the 
same  subject,  Dr.  Franklin  had  remarked  to  Mr.  Jefferson,  in  a 
letter  dated  the  20th  of  March  preceding.  "The  disposition  to 
furnish  Congress  with  ample  powers  augments  daily,  as  people 
become  more  enlightened." 

He  writes  to  his  old  preceptor,  Mr.  Wythe — "Our  act  for 
freedom  of  religion  is  extremely  applauded.  The  ambassadors 
and  ministers  of  the  several  nations  of  Europe,  resident  at  this 
court,  have  asked  of  me  copies  of  it,  to  send  to  their  sovereigns, 
and  it  is  inscribed  at  full  length  in  several  books  now  in  the 

VOL.  I.— 28 


218  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

press;  among  others,  in  the  new  Encyclopedic.  I  think  it  will 
produce  considerable  good  even  in  those  countries,  where  igno- 
rance, superstition,  poverty  and  oppression,  both  of  body  and 
mind,  in  every  form,  are  so  firmly  settled  on  the  mass  of  the 
people,  that  their  redemption  from  them  can  never  be  hoped. 
If  all  the  sovereigns  of  Europe  were  to  set  themselves  to  work, 
to  emancipate  the  minds  of  their  subjects  from  their  present 
ignorance  and  prejudices,  a  thousand  years  will  not  place  them 
on  that  high  ground,  on  which  our  common  people  are  now  set- 
ting out.  Ours  could  not  have  been  so  fairly  placed  under  the 
control  of  the  common  sense  of  the  people,  had  they  not  been 
separated  from  their  parent  stock,  and  kept  from  contamina- 
tion, either  from  them,  or  the  other  people  of  the  old  world,  by 
the  intervention  of  so  wide  an  ocean." 

He  then  descants  on  the  benefits  of  popular  instruction.  "I 
think  by  far  the  most  important  bill  in  our  whole  code,  is  that 
for  the  diffusion  of  knowledge  among  the  people.  No  other  sure 
foundation  can  be  devised  for  the  preservation  of  freedom  and 
happiness."  After  some  common  place  denunciations  of  kings, 
nobles  and  priests,  he  adds:  "Preach  my  dear  sir,  a  crusade 
against  ignorance;  establish  and  improve  the  law  for  educating 
the  common  people.  Let  our  countrymen  know  that  the  peo- 
ple alone  can  protect  us  against  these  evils,  and  that  the  tax 
which  will  be  paid  for  this  purpose,  is  not  more  than  the  thou- 
sandth part  of  what  will  be  paid  to  kings,  priests  and  nobles, 
who  will  rise  up  among  us,  if  we  leave  the  people  in  ignorance. 
He  admitted,  that  the  people  of  England  were  less  oppressed 
than  in  France;  but  that  the  foundation  was  laid  even  with  the 
English  for  a  despotic  government,  by  their  admiration  of  no- 
bility, wealth  and  pomp.  "Then  indulging  in  a  refined  specu- 
lation, he  argued,  that  the  harbour  of  Cherbourg,  which  the 
French  were  constructing,  would,  by  its  consequences,  hasten 
that  catastrophe.  He  supposed,  that  when  the  French  were  thus 
provided  with  a  harbour  on  the  channel,  sufficient  for  their 
whole  navy,  the  chief  obstacle  to  an  invasion  from  France 
would  thereby  be  removed;  and  that  there  would  then  be  a 
necessity  for  England  to  keep  up  a  large  standing  army,  which 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  219 

would  enable  the  government  to  make  itself  absolute.  This  is 
but  an  ordinary  example  of  the  uncertainty  of  most  specula- 
tions on  the  future  destiny  of  nations.  Events  are  always 
occurring  to  mock  human  foresight,  and  render  naught  all  our 
calculations  of  remote  effects.  The  harbour  of  Cherbourg  was 
indeed  completed;  but  instead  of  the  French  navy  being  there- 
after formidable  to  England,  it  was,  by  the  course  of  events,  in 
the  next  war,  actually  annihilated;  and  the  danger  of  invasion 
was  never  so  great  as  after  this  very  annihilation.  The  army 
in  England  was  increased  to  an  unprecedented  amount,  for  the 
purpose  of  preventing  the  invasion.  Yet  the  spirit  of  liberty 
was  greater  in  England,  both  before  and  since  that  event,  than 
at  any  former  period. 

The  history  of  the  false  predictions  of  great  national  disasters 
and  benefits  would  form  a  most  curious  and  instructive  volume. 

In  the  month  of  September,  Mr.  Jefferson  chanced  to  dislo- 
cate his  right  wrist,*  so  as  to  be  incapable  of  writing  with  it,  in 
consequence  of  which  his  correspondence  was  for  some  time 
suspended,  until  he  had  brought  himself  to  write  with  his  left 
hand,  which  he  used  for  about  three  months. 

In  this  time,  he  addressed  a  long  letter  to  Mrs.  Cosway,  an 
English  lady,  whom,  with  her  husband,  he  had  recently  seen  in 
France,  and  sent  her,  by  way  of  philosophical  jeu  d'esprit,  a 
dialogue  between  the  head  and  the  heart,  in  which  the  sepa- 
rate functions  of  the  understanding  and  the  passions  of  human 

*  Mrs.  Randolph's  notice  of  this  incident,  in  the  notes  with  which  she 
has  favoured  me,  gives  too  much  insight,  into  her  parent's  habits  and  cha- 
racter to  be  pretermitted.  "At  one  o'clock,  he  always  rode  or  walked. 
He  frequently  walked  as  far  as  seven  miles  into  the  country.  Returning 
from  one  of  those  rambles,  he  was  joined  by  some  friend,  and  being  earn- 
estly engaged  in  conversation,  he  fell,  and  broke,  and  dislocated  his 
wrist.  He  said  nothing  at  the  moment,  but  holding  the  suffering  limb 
with  the  other  hand,  he  continued  the  conversation  till  he  arrived  near 
to  his  own  house,  when  informing  his  companion  of  the  accident,  he  left 
him  to  send  for  the  surgeon.  The  fracture  was  a  complicated  one,  and 
probably  much  swollen  before  the  arrival  of  the  surgeon;  but  it  was  not 
set,  and  remained  ever  after  weak  and  stiff.  While  disabled  by  this  acci- 
dent, he  was  in  the  habit  of  writing  with  his  left  hand,  in  which  he  soon 
became  very  expert— the  writing  being  well  formed,  but  stiff." 


220  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

life  are  meant  to  be  exhibited.  The  task  is  not  ill-executed, 
considering  the  inherent  difficulty  of  uniting  just  and  sound  phi- 
losophy with  the  easy  gayety  and  sprightliness  of  wit. 

In  November  he  wrote  to  Monsieur  Le  Roy,  a  member  of  the 
Academy  of  Sciences,  on  the  progressive  extension  of  the 
easterly  wind  into  the  interior  of  the  country,  as  the  land  is 
generally  cleared  of  its  forests.  Assuming  the  fact  as  unques- 
tionable, he  attempts  to  explain  it  by  an  hypothesis,  founded  on 
the  known  laws  of  heat  and  air.  Yet,  in  opposition  to  this 
hypothesis,  it  is  found  that,  beyond  the  tropics,  the  westerly 
winds  every  where  prevail,  and  it  is  this  circumstance  that 
alone  affords  a  satisfactory  solution  of  the  higher  temperature  of 
the  western,  over  the  eastern  coasts  of  continents,  in  the  same 
latitude.  The  ocean  being  both  cooler  in  summer  and  warmer 
in  winter  than  the  land,  the  wind,  which  blows  across  it  more 
from  the  west  than  the  east,  proportionally  attempers  the  wes- 
tern coasts. 

He  then  indulges  in  some  conjectures  of  the  probable  effects 
of  opening  a  communication  between  the  Atlantic  and  the 
Pacific,  at  the  isthmus  of  Panama.  But  they  seem  to  ascribe 
too  much  effect  to  the  opening  of  a  single  channel,  since  the  tro- 
pical wind  forms  a  broad  zone,  and  acts  on  a  proportional 
breadth  of  ocean,  and  produces  the  current  called  the  gulf 
stream,  rather  by  the  breadth  of  water,  thus  driven  on  the 
American  coast,  than  by  its  elevation.  A  single  outlet,  there- 
fore, the  force  of  whose  current  would  be  only  according  to  the 
difference  of  level  between  the  two  oceans,  would  have  little 
effect  on  the  whole  mass  of  waters  in  the  bay  of  Mexico;  but 
that  mass  would  continue  its  general  movement  to  the  part  of 
the  Atlantic,  which,  though  but  little  lower,  affords  a  vent  suf- 
ficiently large. 

In  the  same  month,  having  written  to  General  Washington 
to  make  inquiries  in  behalf  of  a  wealthy  house  in  Paris,  which 
was  disposed  to  engage  in  the  fur  trade,  he  notices  the  article 
"Cincinnati,"  in  the  Encyclopedic,  written  by  himself;  but  which 
the  editor  of  that  work  had  altered.  He  sends  a  copy  to  the 
general,  and  requests  him  to  point  out  any  errors  he  may  per- 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  221 

ceive.  He  then  adds,  "what  has  heretofore  passed  between  us 
on  this  institution,  makes  it  my  duty  to  mention  to  you,  that  I 
have  never  heard  a  person  in  Europe,  learned  or  unlearned, 
express  his  thoughts  on  this  institution,  who  did  not  consider  it 
as  dishonourable  and  destructive  to  our  government;  and  that 
every  writing  which  has  come  out  since  my  arrival  here,  in 
which  it  is  mentioned,  considers  it,  even  as  now  reformed,  as 
the  germ  whose  developement  is  one  day  to  destroy  the  fabric 
we  have  reared."  He  then  states  his  own  views  to  be  similar, 
and  most  earnestly  deprecates  the  continuance  of  an  institution 
which  is  pregnant  with  the  mischief  of  introducing  in  the  coun- 
try an  aristocracy — the  worst  of  all  forms  of  government." 

A  letter  to  Mr.  Munroe,  in  December,  strikingly  shows  how 
fallacious  are  all  our  schemes  of  future  happiness;  and  fallacious, 
not  merely  as  to  the  facts  themselves  that  are  foreseen,  but  also 
as  to  their  unfitncss  for  our  purpose,  if  they  were  to  happen. 
Mr.  Jefferson  expresses  to  Mr.  Munroe  an  earnest  wish  that  he 
would  make  the  county  of  Albemarle  his  place  of  residence; 
states,  that  Mr.  Short  will  do  so;  and  suggests  that  Mr.  Madi- 
son may  be  tempted"  to  follow  their  example:  "This,"  he  says, 
"will  be  society  enough,  and  it  will  be  the  great  sweetener  of  our 
lives.  Without  society,  and  a  society  to  our  taste,  men  are 
never  contented.  The  one  here  supposed,  we  can  regulate  to 
our  minds,  and  we  may  extend  our  regulations  to  the  sumptuary 
department,  so  as  to  set  a  good  example  to  a  country  which 
needs  it,  and  to  preserve  our  own  happiness  clear  of  embarrass- 
ment." 

Only  a  small  part  of  this  scheme  was  realized,  and  that  but 
for  a  short  time.  Mr.  Madison  continued  at  his  paternal  seat 
in  Orange  county,  which  he  enlarged  and  embellished,  and 
where,  in  a  dignified  retirement,  he  still  continues  to  charm  all 
persons  of  true  taste  and  feeling,  by  the  amenity  of  his  manners, 
by  the  unclouded  cheerfulness  of  his  temper,  by  his  extraordi- 
nary conversational  talent,  and'to  astonish  them  by  the  vigour, 
the  resources,  and  the  sprightliness  of  the  intellect  which  still 
exhibits  its  pristine  powers  of  grasping  the  most  difficult  pro- 
blem in  politics  or  morals,  and  of  perceiving  and  relishing  every 


222  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

species  of  the  ludicrous,  that  is  not  unbecoming  the  sage  and 
the  gentleman. 

Mr.  Short  continued  in  Europe  many  years,  first,  as  Secre- 
tary of  Legation,  at  Paris,  and  afterwards,  as  Charge  d'affaires, 
or  Minister,  at  different  courts.  When  he  returned  to  Ameri- 
ca, he  found  in  Philadelphia  the  nearest  approach  to  the  nu- 
merous comforts  afforded  by  an  European  capital.  Mr.  Mun- 
roe  did,  indeed,  purchase  land,  and  build  a  house  in  Albemarle, 
but  by  reason  of  his  successive  public  employments,  he,  per- 
haps, did  not  reside  five  years  out  of  the  forty  which  elapsed 
from  the  time  this  vision  of  the  pleasures  of  friendship  was 
sketched  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  to  the  time  of  his  death. 

It  is  not  a  little  remarkable,  that  three  of  the  four  individuals, 
whom  Mr.  Jefferson  thus  contemplated  as  sharing  in  the  same 
neighbourhood  the  tranquil  delights  of  a  country  life,  subse- 
quently attained  the  office  of  President  of  the  United  States,  so 
much  had  reality,  on  this  occasion,  outstripped  imagination. 
Mr.  Jefferson  suggests  to  Mr.  Munroe  two  modes  of  rendering 
the  drudgery  of  practising  law  unnecessary.  One  was  to  obtain 
a  seat  in  the  executive  council  of  Virginia,  and  the  other,  a 
place  in  the  judiciary  of  the  state.  The  first  of  these  situations 
then  had  a  salary  attached  to  it  of  only  833^  dollars:  the  other, 
about  1200  dollars.  Yet,  this  gentleman,  whom  these  very 
moderate  incomes  were  then  deemed  sufficient  to  provide  with 
a  competency,  through  the  greater  part  of  his  subsequent  life 
received  annually  from  3333^  dollars  to  25,000  dollars,  amount- 
ing in  all  to  upwards  of  400,000  dollars;  and  these  sums  had 
been  so  inadequate  to  his  expenses,  that  his  debts  were  suf- 
ficient to  leave  an  incumbrance  on  an  estate  devised  to  him  by 
an  uncle,  after  having  exhausted  all  the  rest  of  his  property. 

Of  the  many  similar  examples  which  our  country  occasion- 
ally presents,  of  men  being  elevated  beyond  their  most  sanguine 
expectations,  there  can  be  few  more  striking  than  this,  of  one 
whose  views,  after  he  became  a  public  man,  were  limited  to  a 
residence  in  what  was  then  a  sequestered  part  of  the  country,  on 
an  income  of  1000  dollars,  and  who  afterwards  received  a  salary 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  223 

of  25,000,  lived  in  a  furnished  palace,  and  became  the  chief 
magistrate  of  ten  millions  of  people. 

It  was  during  this  year  that  Mr.  Jefferson  became  acquainted 
with  John  Ledyard,  the  American  traveller,  who  had  come  to 
Paris  with  the  hope  of  forming  a  company  to  engage  in  the  fur 
trade  of  the  western  coast  of  America.  Being  disappointed  in 
this  project,  Mr.  Jefferson,  knowing  his  enterprising  character 
and  love  of  travel,  suggested  to  him  to  undertake  to  explore  the 
American  continent,  by  traversing  Europe  and  Asia  to  Kam- 
schatka,  and  crossing  over  from  thence  in  a  Russian  vessel  to 
Nootka  sound,  from  which  place  he  could  travel  over  land  to 
the  United  States.  This  scheme  fell  in  so  well  with  Ledyard's 
adventurous  spirit,  that  he  readily  embraced  it,  and  immedi- 
ately took  means  for  carrying  it  into  execution. 

Mr.  Jefferson  undertook  to  procure  the  permission  of  the 
empress  of  Russia,  and  for  that  purpose  interested  her  minister, 
de  Semoulin,  and  Baron  Grimm,  her  special  correspondent;  but 
permission  being  refused,  on  the  alleged  ground  that  the  enter- 
prise was  chimerical,  Ledyard  persevered,  and  set  off  for  St. 
Petersburg,  under  the  expectation  of  being  able  to  convince  the 
empress  that  his  scheme  was  practicable.  On  his  arrival  there, 
finding  that  she  was  on  a  visit  to  the  Crimea,  he  set  out,  and 
proceeded  on  towards  the  Pacific,*  but  was  soon  arrested,  by 
order  of  the  empress,  and  sent  back  to  Poland. 

Ledyard  expressed  great  gratitude  to  Mr.  Jefferson  for  the 
attentions  and  other  favours  shown  him  while  in  Paris,  and  it 
would  seem  that  he  owed  principally  to  Mr.  Jefferson  and  the 
Marquis  de  La  Fayette  the  means  of  support.  In  one  of  his  let- 
ters to  a  friend,  he  says,  "I  make  these  trips  to  Paris  often; 
sometimes  to  dine  with  this  amiable  Frenchman,  (La  Fayette,) 
and  sometimes  our  minister,  who  is  a  brother  to  me." 

There  was  at  the  time  an  air  of  mystery  in  the  order  made 

*  Mr.  Jefferson  was  mistaken  in  supposing  that  Ledyard  was  within 
200  miles  of  the  Pacific  coast.  He  reached  no  further  than  Yakutsk, 
which  is  reckoned  to  be  2017  versts,  equal  to  1345  miles  from  Kamschat- 
ka.  When  he  was  seized,  he  was  2855  versts  from  the  Pacific,  in  conse- 
quence of  having  retraced  a  part  of  his  course  to  accompany  Captain 
Sellings,  a  Russian  officer,  to  Irkutsk. 


224  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

by  the  empress  for  Ledyard's  seizure,  the  reason  assigned  being, 
that  he  was  regarded  as  a  French  spy.  It,  however,  is  now  evi- 
dent that  it  originated  either  in  the  political  jealousy  of  the 
government,  which  did  not  wish  the  attention  of  other  powers 
called  to  the  settlements  the  empress  was  then  making  on  the 
north-west  coast  of  America,  or  the  commercial  jealousy  of  the 
merchants  at  Irkutsk,  who  were  engaged  in  the  fur  trade.  Had 
he  succeeded  in  reaching  the  north-west  coast,  it  seems  hardly 
possible  he  could  have  traversed  this  continent,  without  having 
his  progress  arrested  by  imprisonment  or  death,  from  some  of  the 
savage  tribes  whom  he  would  have  encountered  in  his  journey. 
Nor  would  his  voyage  have  cast  much  additional  light,  either 
on  the  character  of  the  aborigines,  or  their  origin.  In  their 
general  appearance,  the  Indians  of  this  continent  resemble  the 
Kalmucks  of  Asia  enough  to  make  it  probable  that  they  are 
scions  of  the  same  stock,  as  Ledyard  believed,  and  it  remains 
for  the  researches  of  philology,  which  has  done  so  much  in  that 
way,  to  afford  further  proofs  of  their  affinity. 

Had  Ledyard,  however,  succeeded  in  his  subsequent  attempt 
to  penetrate  into  the  interior  of  Africa,  he  might  have  antici- 
pated much  of  that  addition  to  geographical  knowledge,  which 
has  been  since  made  by  Parke,  Denham,  Clapperton,  and 
others. 

He  seems  to  have  felt  the  liveliest  attachment  to  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son. Though  he  lived  only  about  three  months  after  he  arrived 
in  Egypt,  he  wrote  three  letters  to  his  benefactor.  In  one  of 
them,  he  thus  warmly  expresses  himself:  "Having  been  in  Cairo 
only  four  days,  I  have  not'  seen  much  of  particular  interest  for 
you;  and,  indeed,  you  will  not  expect  much  of  this  kind  from  me. 
My  business  is  in  another  quarter,  and  the  information  I  seek 
totally  new.  Any  thing  from  this  place  would  not  be  so. 

"At  all  events,  I  shall  never  want  a  subject  when  it  is  to  you 
I  write.  I  shall  never  think  my  letter  an  indifferent  one,  when 
it  contains  the  declaration  of  my  gratitude  and  affection  for 
you;  and  this,  notwithstanding  you  thought  hard  of  me  for  being 
employed  by  an  English  Association,  which  hurt  me  much  while 
I  was  at  Paris.  You  know  your  own  heart,  and  if  my  suspi- 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  225 

cions  are  groundless,  forgive  them,  since  they  proceed  from  the 
jealousy  I  have,  not  to  lose  the  regard  you  have,  in  time  past, 
been  pleased  to  honour  me  with.  You  are  not  obliged  to  esteem 
me,  but  I  am  obliged  to  esteem  you,  or  to  take  leave  of  my 
senses,  and  confront  the  opinions  of  the  greatest  and  best  cha- 
racters I  know.  If  I  cannot,  therefore,  address  myself  to  you 
as  a  man  you  regard,  I  must  do  it  as  one  that  regards  you  for 
your  own  sake,  and  for  the  sake  of  my  country,  which  has  set 
me  the  example." 

In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Jay,  of  January  the  9th,  Mr.  Jefferson  com- 
plains of  the  publication  of  his  despatches  of  the  27th  of  May 
preceding,  in  which  he  had  detailed  a  conversation  with  the 
Count  de  Vergennes  on  the  subject  of  tobacco.  "It  will,"  he 
says,  "tend  to  draw  on  the  count  the  formidable  phalanx  of  the 
farms;  to  prevent  his  committing  himself  to  me  in  any  conversa- 
sion  which  he  does  not  mean  for  the  public  papers;  to  inspire 
the  same  diffidence  into  all  other  ministers  with  whom  1  might 
have  to  transact  business;  to  defeat  the  little  hope,  if  any  hope 
existed,  of  getting  rid  of  the  farm  on  the  article  of  tobacco;  and 
to  damp  that  freedom  of  communication  which  the  resolution 
of  Congress  of  May  the  «'{d,  1784,  was  intended  to  re-establish." 

His  sensibility  to  every  thing  which  might  affect  the  reputa- 
tion of  his  countrymen,  even  in  small  things,  is  manifested  by  a 
letter  he  wrote  about  this  time  to  Monsieur  de  Creve  Coeur,  in 
which  he  asserted,  for  the  farmers  of  New  Jersey,  the  claim  to 
the  invention  of  the  rim  of  a  carriage  wheel  of  one  single  piece, 
which  had  been  recently  spoken  of  in  England,  as  an  invention 
of  that  country.  He  says,  the  practice  of  making  such  wheels 
had  long  existed  in  New  Jersey,  and  that  it  had  been  commu- 
nicated by  Dr.  Franklin,  when  in  London,  to  the  very  man  who 
had  there  obtained  the  patent  for  it,  as  he  had  admitted  to  Mr. 
Jefferson  himself. 

VOL.  I.— 29 


226 


CHAPTER  X. 


Political  troubles,  of  France.  Meeting  of  the  Notables.  Shay's  insur- 
rection in  Massachusetts.  Newspapers.  Thoughts  on  Government. 
Navigation  of  the  Mississippi.  Visits  the  South  of  France.  His 
style  of  travelling.  Nismes.  Secret  overtures  from  a  Brazilian  and 
a  Mexican.  His  views  of  the  new  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 
Debt  due  to  French  officers.  Is  joined  by  his  younger  daughter.  Note 
to  the  French  minister.  Cultivation  of  the  vine  and  olive  compared. 
His  opinions  on  the  power  of  coercion  on  the  states — Moral  philosophy 
—Religion— Travelling.  Advice  in  a  law  question.  Statuary  cos- 
tume. Increasing  discontents  in  France.  Effects  of  European  wars 
on  the  United  States.  Progress  of  the  French  devolution.  Letter  to 
Mr.  Wythe.  Imports  the  bones  of  a  Moose.  Imputed  project  of  the 
English  ministry. 

1787. 

AT  this  period,  when  nearly  all  Europe  wore  the  face  of  peace 
and  order;  when  its  two  most  powerful  states,  England  and 
France,  had  apparently  laid  aside  not  only  their  ancient  ani- 
mosity, but  even  their  commercial  jealousy,  and  had  entered 
into  a  treaty  of  a  more  liberal  character  than  the  world  had 
before  witnessed,  there  we're  causes  secretly  at  work  to  bring 
about  a  convulsion,  which,  besides  overturning  all  former  esta- 
blishments, whether  of  policy,  religion,  or  morals,  in  the  country 
where  it  broke  out,  agitated  to  its  centre  every  civilized  nation 
on  the  globe.  Other  revolutions  have  decided  the  political  des- 
tiny of  nations — have  given  freedom  to  people,  or  have  trans- 
ferred them  from  one  set  of  rulers  to  another;  yet  customs,  man- 
ners, habits,  and  ways  of  thinking  remained  unchanged.  Even 
where  conquest  has  been  followed  by  a  change  in  the  institu- 
tions and  character  either  of  the  vanquished  or  the  victors,  that 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  ,  227 

change  has  been  gradual  and  slow.  But  in  the  French  Revo- 
lution, the  changes  of  power  and  of  property,  were  not  greater 
than  that  of  opinion,  and  all  these  changes  were  almost  imme- 
diate. The  desire  of  reform  soon  became  the  love  of  innova- 
tion, until  a  prurient  thirst  for  novelty,  seeking  gratification  in 
every  thing,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest  concerns  of  life,  sub- 
verted all  that  seemed  most  stable  by  time,  habit  or  affection. 

Those  who  have  speculated  on  this  great  event  have  dwelt 
on  particular  circumstances,  as  its  direct  causes,  such  as  the 
financial  embarrassments  of  the  nation:  the  spirit  of  indepen- 
dence which  had  been  for  some  years  manifested  by  the  Par- 
liaments: the  influence  of  their  men  of  letters,  who  were  mostly 
free  thinkers  in  religion,  and  republicans  in  government:  the 
American  Revolution,  the  success  of  which,  by  gratifying  the 
national  pride  of  the  French,  had  endeared  its  cause  to  their 
affections:  and  some  have  even  supposed  that,  but  for  the  imbe- 
cile character  of  Louis  XVI.  and  the  indiscretions  of  his  queen, 
the  throne  of  France  would  have  yet  retained  its  ancient  splen- 
dour, and  its  monarch  his  place  in  the  hearts  of  the  people. 

That  each  of  these  circumstances  contributed  to  bring  about 
the  revolution  at  the  precise  time  it  happened,  and  to  give  it  the 
very  form  and  character  it  assumed,  will  be  ready  conceded: 
but  it  seems  probable,  that  there  were  causes  yet  deeper  than 
those,  which  had  been  long  silently  at  work,  and  which  must, 
at  no  remote  period,  have  wrought  an  entire  change  in  the  civil 
condition  of  France,  though  none  of  the  circumstances  referred 
to  had  ever  existed;  though  the  American  Revolution  had  not 
occurred;  though  the  reigning  monarch  had  possessed  firmness 
and  decision,  and  the  Parliaments  had  wanted  them;  though 
Voltaire  and  Rousseau  had  never  lived;  and  though  the  public 
debt  had  not  exceeded  the  resources  of  the  treasury. 

If  we  take  a  general  survey  of  the  progress  of  society  in 
modern  Europe,  we  shall  perceive  the  following  great  causes  of 
change,  operating  steadily  and  universally,  though  with  unequal 
steps,  in  different  times  and  places:  science  of  every  description 
is  constantly  acquiring  new  facts,  discovering  new  relations,  and 
settling  new  principles:  all  the  useful  arts  of  life  receive  a  simi- 


228  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

lar  improvement  by  the  invention  of  new  machines,  new  pro- 
cesses, and  by  a  greater  variety  of  materials.  The  correspon- 
dent increase  of  the  materials  of  thought  have  disposed  man 
more  to  reasoning  and  reflection,  so  that  he  is  less  under  the 
deceptioua  influence  of  his  passions;  less  prone  to  superstitious 
fear;  less  ferocious  and  implacable  in  his  resentments:  the  ad- 
vancement of  art,  too,  and  the  greater  diffusion  of  wealth  has 
elevated  the  inferior  ranks  of  society  nearer  to  a  level  with  the 
highest:  and  lastly,  since  such  members  now  desire  a  support 
from  the  exercise  of  their  own  industry,  rather  than  from  the 
bounty  of  a  feudal  baron,  much  of  that  deference  for  rank  which 
formerly  existed  has  disappeared,  and  the  pride  of  family  has 
been  superseded  by  the  pride  of  talents  and  wealth.  In  a  word, 
knowledge  and  prosperity,  which  are  yet  more  efficient  in 
swaying  the  acts  of  civilized  man  than  physical  force,  have 
greatly  augmented,  and  become  more  diffused  throughout  the 
community. 

The  consequence  of  this  altered  state  of  things  was,  that  politi- 
cal power  required  a  new  distribution,  correspondent  with  the 
changes  of  moral  power,  and  the  discordance  between  the  civil 
institutions,  and  the  state  of  society  becoming  every  day  greater, 
such  distribution  must,  sooner  or  later,  necessarily  take  place. 
If  those  institutions  were  so  organized  as  to  admit  of  partial 
and  gradual  amendments,  as  seems  to  be  the  character  of 
the  British  government,  the  political  change  might  be  both 
peaceable  and  safe;  but  if  they  were  not,  revolution  and  civil 
convulsion  seemed  the  inevitable  consequence.  The  institutions 
of  France  did  not  possess  this  conservative  principle  of  amend- 
ment. Usage  there  made  the  law,  and  whatsoever  had  its 
sanction,  acquired  thereby  an  authority  which  could  not  be 
resisted.  Now,  as  the  few  to  whom  this  supreme  law  gave 
exclusive  privileges  and  the  power  of  enforcing  them,  could 
not  be  expected  to  make  a  voluntary  surrender  of  their  advan- 
tages, and  those  who  were  excluded  more  and  more  felt  the 
grievance,  and  their  power  of  redressing  it,  the  change  that 
was  to  ensue  could  scarcely  be  brought  about  except  by  violence 
and  revolution. 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  229 

It  was  in  January,  1787,  that  Mr.  Jefferson  first  mentioned  this 
subject  in  his  official  despatches,  by  noticing  those  political  diffi- 
culties which  induced  the  French  government  to  call  the  Notables 
of  the  country — a  step  which  had  not  been  taken  for  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  years  before.  The  conjectured  motives,  he  says, 
in  his  letter  to  Mr.  Jay,  were  the  following:  the  toleration  of 
the  Protestant  religion:  the  removal  of  the  custom  houses  from 
the  interior  to  the  frontier:  the  equalization  of  the  gabelles,  or 
duties  on  salt  throughout  the  kingdom:  the  sale  of  the  king's 
domains  to  raise  money,  or  finally,  to  effect  this  last  necessary 
end  by  some  other  means.  He  admits,  however,  that  the  pur- 
pose was  known  only  to  the  government. 

In  a  letter  to  a  friend,  he  observes,  that  "this  event,  which 
will  hardly  excite  any  attention  in  America,  is  deemed  here  the 
most  important  one  which  has  taken  place  in  their  civil  line, 
during  the  present  century.  Our  friend,  de  La  Fayette,  was 
placed  on  the  list  (of  notables)  originally.  Afterwards  his  name 
disappeared;  but  finally  was  reinstated.  This  shows  that  his 
character  here  is  not  considered  as  an  indifferent  one;  and  that 
it  excites  agitation.  His  education  in  our  school  has  drawn  on 
him  a  -eery  jealous  eye,  from  a  court  whose  principles  are  a  most 
absolute  despotism." 

In  his  remarks  on  Shay's  rebellion  in  Massachusetts,  he  ex- 
presses principles  in  favour  of  popular  opinions  and  feelings  to 
which  he  seemed  to  have  steadily  adhered  through  life.  "The 
interposition  of  the  people  themselves,  on  the  side  of  govern- 
ment, has  had  a  great  effect  on  the  people  here.  I  am  per- 
suaded myself,  that  the  good  sense  of  the  people  will  always  be 
the  best  army.  They  may  be  led  astray  for  a  moment,  but  will 
soon  correct  themselves.  The  people  are  the  only  censors  of 
their  governors;  and  even  their  errors  will  tend  to  keep  them 
to  the  true  principles  of  their  institution.  To  punish  these  errors 
too  severely,  would  be  to  suppress  the  only  safe  guard  of  the 
public  liberty.  The  way  to  prevent  these  irregular  interposi- 
tions of  the  people  is,  to  give  them  full  information  of  their 
affairs,  through  the  channel  of  public  papers,  and  to  contrive 
that  those  papers  should  penetrate  the  whole  mass  of  the  peo- 


230  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

pie.  The  basis  of  our  government  being  the  opinion  of  the 
people,  the  very  first  object  should  be  to  keep  that  right;  and 
were  it  left  to  me  to  decide,  whether  we  should  have  a  govern- 
ment without  newspapers,  or  newspapers  without  a  govern- 
ment, I  should  not  hesitate  a  moment  to  prefer  the  latter.  But 
I  should  mean,  that  every  man  should  receive  those  papers,  and 
be  capable  of  reading  them." 

Mr.  Jefferson,  however,  lived  to  see  that  these,  his  favourite 
means  of  enlightening  and  instructing  the  people,  were  as  potent, 
and  often  as  ready  instruments  for  the  diffusion  of  falsehood  as 
truth;  that  if  the  latter  is  sure  in  the  end  to  prevail  in  the  strug- 
gle for  the  mastery  between  them,  it  is  often  only  after  a  long 
contest,  frequent  discomfitures,  and  the  most  arduous  efforts  of 
her  adherents;  and  that  if  these  should  chance  to  have  feeble 
heads,  or  failing  hearts,  as  is  sometimes  the  case,  error  may 
then  obtain  a  triumph,  and  may  long  enjoy  it.  He  became,  in 
a  subsequent  part  of  his  life,  so  sensible  of  this,  that  he  almost 
ceased  to  read  the  newspapers,  and,  as  he  says  to  one  of  his 
correspondents,  confined  himself  to  a  single  one,  the  Richmond 
Enquirer,  in  which  he  found  nothing  politically  heterodox,  or 
personally  offensive.  But  while  these  ephemeral  teachers  of 
truth  and  vehicles  of  information  are,  in  common  with  every 
thing  belonging  to  man,  thus  imperfect,  and  liable  to  abuse,  it 
is  not  seen  how  a  large  community  could  continue  free  or  intel- 
ligent without  them;  as  the  air  which,  though  it  sometimes  con- 
veys offensive  odours,  sometimes  noxious  vapours,  and,  in  its 
greatest  agitations,  becomes  the  destructive  hurricane,  is,  never- 
theless, the  indispensable  aliment  of  life.  It  was  only  to  this 
great  result  that  Mr.  Jefferson  had  reference. 

The  following  opinions*  savour  somewhat  of  those  Eutopian 
notions  of  civil  society  and  government,  which  had  been  recom- 
mended by  Rousseau,  in  the  wantonness  of  conscious  eloquence, 
and  which  were  then  much  in  favour  among  the  literati  of 
France. 

"I  am  convinced  that  those  societies  (as  the  Indians)  which 

*  In  a  letter  to  Colonel  Edward  Carrington  of  Virginia. 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  231 

live  without  government,  enjoy,  in  their  general  mass,  an  infi- 
nitely greater  degree  of  happiness  than  those  who  live  under  the 
European  governments.  Among  the  former,  public  opinion  is 
in  the  place  of  law,  and  restrains  morals  as  powerfully  as  laws 
ever  did  any  where.  Among  the  latter,  under  the  pretence  of 
governing,  they  have  divided  their  nations  into  two  classes, 
wolves  and  sheep.  I  do  not  exaggerate:  this  is  a  true  picture 
of  Europe.  Cherish,  therefore,  the  spirit  of  our  people,  and  keep 
alive  their  attention.  Do  not  be  too  severe  upon  their  errors, 
but  reclaim  them  by  enlightening  them.  If  once  they  become 
inattentive  to  the  public  affairs,  you  and  I,  and  Congress  and 
Assemblies,  Judges  and  Governors,  shall  all  become  wolves." 

A  letter  to  Mr.  Madison  this  month,  January,  contains  some 
further  speculations  on  government,  which  were  suggested  by 
the  same  occurrences  in  the  eastern  states,  and  which  manifest 
the  same  arguments  in  favour  of  democratic  principles.  He 
expresses  a  hope,  that  the  excesses  into  which  the  people  have 
been  betrayed,  "will  provoke  no  severities  from  their  govern- 
ments." 

"Societies,"  he  says,  "exist  under  forms  sufficiently  distin- 
guishable. 1.  Without  government,  as  many  of  our  Indians. 
2.  Under  governments,  wherein  the  will  of  every  one  has  a  just 
influence;  as  is  the  case  in  England,  in  a  slight  degree,  and  in 
our  states  in  a  great  one.  3.  Under  governments  of  force;  as  is 
the  case  in  all  other  monarchies,  and  in  most  of  the  other  repub- 
lics. To  have  an  idea  of  the  curse  of  existence,  under  these 
last,  they  must  be  seen.  It  is  a  government  of  wolves  over  sheep. 
It  is  a  problem,  not  clear  to  my  mind,  that  the  first  condition  is 
not  the  best.  But  I  believe  it  to  be  inconsistent  with  anv  great 
degree  of  population.  The  second  state  has  a  great  deal  of 
good  in  it.  The  mass  of  mankind,  under  that,  enjoys  a  pre- 
cious degree  of  liberty  and  happiness.  It  has  its  evils  too:  the 
principal  of  which  is  the  turbulence  to  which  it  is  subject.  But 
weigh  this  against  the  oppressions  of  monarchy,  and  it  becomes 
nothing.  Malo  periculosam  libertatem  quam  quietam  servitutem. 
Even  this  evil  is  productive  of  good.  It  prevents  the  degene- 
racy of  government,  and  nourishes  a  general  attention  to  the 


232  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

public  affairs.  I  hold  it,  that  a  little  rebellion  now  and  then  is 
a  good  thing,  and  as  necessary  in  the  political  world  as  storms 
in  the  physical.  Unsuccessful  rebellions,  indeed,  generally  esta- 
blish the  encroachments  on  the  rights  of  the  people  which  have 
produced  them.  An  observation  of  this  truth  should  render 
honest  republican  governors  so  mild  in  their  punishments  of 
rebellions,  as  not  to  discourage  them  too  much.  It  is  a  medi- 
cine necessary  for  the  sound  health  of  the  government." 

His  views  on  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  which  he  had 
been  informed  Congress  thought  of  abandoning  to  Spain,  are 
likely  to  meet  with  a  more  general  concurrence  than  the  pre- 
ceding. He  confidently  predicted  that  such  a  course  would 
occasion  a  separation  of  the  western  from  the  eastern  country. 
He  thus  reasons  on  that  event.  "If  they  declare  themselves 
a  separate  people,  we  are  incapable  of  a  single  effort  to  retain 
them.  Our  citizens  can  never  be  induced,  either  as  militia  or 
as  soldiers,  to  go  there  to  cut  the  throats  of  their  own  brothers 
and  sons,  or  rather,  to  be  themselves  the  subjects,  instead  of  the 
perpetrators  of  the  parricide.  Nor  would  that  country  quit 
the  cost  of  being  retained  against  the  will  of  its  inhabitants, 
could  it  be  done.  But  it  cannot  be  done.  They  are  able 
already  to  rescue  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  out  of  the 
hands  of  Spain,  and  to  add  New  Orleans  to  their  own  territory. 
They  will  be  joined  by  the  inhabitants  of  Louisiana.  This  will 
bring  on  a  war  between  them  and  Spain;  and  that  will  produce 
the  question  with  us,  whether  it  will  not  be  worth  our  while  to 
become  parties  with  them  in  the  war,  in  order  to  re-unite  them 
with  us,  and  thus  correct  our  error?  And  were  I  to  permit  my 
forebodings  to  go  one  step  further,  I  should  predict  that  the 
inhabitants  of  the  United  States  would  force  their  rulers  to 
take  the  affirmative  of  that  question.  I  wish  I  may  be  mis- 
taken in  all  these  opinions." 

In  the  same  letter,  he  gives  Mr.  Madjson  his  opinion  of  some 
public  men,  of  whom,  as  he  had  again  become  a  member  of 
Congress,  it  was  important  that  he  should  form  a  correct  esti- 
mate. The  sketches  are  made  with  that  freedom  which  a 
friend  would  have  a  right  to  expect,  yet  some  may  think  that 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  233 

the  dark  touches  are  sufficiently  strong.  There  is  but  one 
which  is  not  relieved  by  some  excellence  or  virtue:  the  only 
shade  to  the  character  of  La  Fayette  is  an  undue  love  of  popu- 
larity, and  Mr.  Jefferson  predicts  he  would  one  day  rise  above  it. 

His  warm  attachment  to  France  thus  expresses  itself:  "no- 
thing should  be  spared  on  our  part  to  attach  this  country  to  us. 
It  is  the  only  one  on  which  we  can  rely  for  support,  under  every 
event.  Its  inhabitants  love  us  more,  I  think,  than  they  do  any 
other  nation  on  earth.  This  is  very  much  the  effect  of  the 
good  dispositions  with  which  the  French  officers  returned." 

The  dislocation  of  his  wrist  still  giving  him  pain,  and  not 
yielding  to  other  remedies,  he  determined  to  try  the  effect  of 
mineral  baths,  which  had  been  recommended,  and  for  that  pur- 
pose set  out  on  a  tour  to  the  south  of  France.  But  this  was  far 
from  constituting  his  sole,  or  even  perhaps  his  principal  induce- 
ment; for,  as  he  states  in  his  letter  to  Mr.  Madison,  he  would 
then  have  an  opportunity  of  seeing  the  canal  of  Languedoc,  and 
of  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  inland  navigation,  that  would  be 
useful  thereafter;  and  it  would  enable  him  to  visit  the  commer- 
cial ports  on  the  Mediterranean,  and  there  see  the  practical 
effect  of  the  recent  regulations  of  commerce  with  the  United 
States.  He  seems  to  have  travelled  with  a  disposition  to  ob- 
serve and  to  inquire  into  every  thing  that  might  be  useful  to 
himself  or  his  country;  and  the  remarks  he  then  made  were  so 
impressed  on  his  mind,  that  they  readily  suggested  themselves, 
and  gave  a  zest  to  his  conversation,  throughout  all  his  subse- 
quent life.  He  left  Paris  in  the  beginning  of  March.  He 
passed  through  Champagne,  Burgundy,  Dauphine,  Langue- 
doc, and  the  north  of  Italy.  He  also  visited  Marseilles,  Nantes, 
and  Bordeaux.  He  says,  it  was  his  practice,  whenever  he 
visited  any  town,  to  see  all  that  was  curious  to  the  traveller 
in  a  single  day.  But  that  he  was  never  wearied  with  rambling 
through  the  fields  and  farms,  examining  the  culture  and  the 
cultivators  with  a  degree  of  curiosity  which  made  some  sup- 
pose him  a  fool,  and  others,  that  he  was  a  great  deal  wiser  than 
he  was. 

At  Nismes,  he  was  gratified  with  a  sight  of  the  Maison  quarree, 

VOL.  I.— 30 


234  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

the  model  of  which  had  previously  so  delighted  him;  and  he 
writes  of  it,  to  a  female  correspondent,  in  a  strain  of  enthu- 
siasm. In  the  notes  he  made  on  his  journey,  he  wisely  omitted 
the  common  place  statistics  which  may  be  found  in  books,  and 
noticed  only  those  things  which  were  new  to  him,  or  which 
conveyed  some  information,  or  hint,  that  might  be  afterwards 
useful.  The  price  of  labour,  the  diet  of  the  labourers,  the 
mode  of  husbandry,  as  well  as  articles  of  culture,  and  their 
price,  seemed  to  be  general  objects  of  inquiry.  In  a  letter  to 
his  friend,  La  Fayette,  dated  at  Nice,  he  earnestly  recommends 
the  marquis  to  make  a  similar  journey.  "It  will,"  he  says,  "be 
a  great  comfort  for  you  to  know,  from  your  own  inspection,  the 
condition  of  all  the  provinces  of  your  own  country,  and  it  will 
be  interesting  to  them,  at  some  future  day,  to  be  known  to  you. 
This  is,  perhaps,  the  only  moment  of  your  life  in  which  you  can 
acquire  that  knowledge.  And  to  do  it  most  effectually,  you 
must  be  absolutely  incognito:  you  must  ferret  the  people  out  of 
their  hovels  as  I  have  done;  look  into  their  kettles;  eat  their 
bread;  loll  on  their  beds,  under  pretence  of  resting  yourself;  but, 
in  fact,  to  find  if  they  are  soft:  you  will  feel  a  sublime  pleasure 
in  the  course  of  this  investigation,  and  a  sublimer  one  hereafter, 
when  you  shall  be  able  to  apply  your  knowledge  to  the  soften- 
ing of  their  beds,  or  the  throwing  a  morsel  of  meat  into  their 
kettle  of  vegetables." 

It  would  seem  from  the  preceding  passage,  that  his  thirst  for 
knowledge,  and  the  interest  he  took  in  the  condition  of  the  peo- 
ple he  visited,  prevailed  over  the  attentions  and  respect  he  was 
likely  to  have  received  in  every  part  of  France  at  that  day,  as 
the  public  minister  of  the  United  States. 

While  he  was  at  Nismes,  he  had  a  singular  interview  with 
an  individual,  who  had  written  him  a  letter  from  Montpellier 
in  the  preceding  October,  saying  that  he  was  a  foreigner,  and 
having  important  intelligence  to  communicate,  desired  that  Mr. 
Jefferson  would  indicate  a  safe  channel  of  communication.  His 
request  being  complied  with,  Mr.  Jefferson  soon  afterwards 
received  from  him  a  letter,  the  material  parts  of  which  were 
as  follows: 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  235 

"I  am  a  native  of  Brazil — you  are  not  ignorant  of  the  fright- 
ful slavery  under  which  my  country  groans.  This  continually 
becomes  more  insupportable,  since  the  epoch  of  your  glorious 
Independence:  for  the  cruel  Portuguese  omit  nothing  which  can 
render  our  condition  more  wretched,  from  an  apprehension  that 
we  may  follow  your  example.  The  conviction  that  these  usur- 
pers against  the  laws  of  nature  and  humanity  only  meditate  new 
oppressions,  has  decided  us  to  follow  the  guiding  light  which 
you  have  held  out  to  us,  to  break  our  chains,  to  revive  our 
almost  expiring  liberty,  which  is  nearly  overwhelmed  by  that 
force  which  is  the  sole  foundation  of  the  authority  that  Euro- 
peans exercise  over  America.  But  it  is  necessary  that  some 
power  should  extend  assistance  to  the  Brazilians,  since  Spain 
would  certainly  unite  herself  with  Portugal;  and  in  spite  of  our 
advantages  for  defence,  we  could  not  make  it  effectual,  or  at 
least,  it  would  be  imprudent  to  hazard  the  attempt,  without 
some  assurance  of  success.  In  this  state  of  afiairs,  sir,  we  can 
with  propriety  look  only  to  the  United  States,  not  only  because 
we  are  following  her  example,  but,  moreover,  because  nature, 
in  making  us  inhabitants  of  the  same  continent,  has,  in  some 
sort,  united  us  in  the  bonds  of  a  common  patriotism.  On  our 
part,  we  are  prepared  to  furnish  the  necessary  supplies  of  mo- 
ney, and  at  all  times,  to  acknowledge  the  debt  of  gratitude  to 
our  benefactors.  I  have  thus,  sir,  laid  before  you  a  summary 
of  my  views.  It  is  in  discharge  of  this  commission  that  I  have 
come  to  France,  since  I  could  not  effect  it  in  America,  without 
exciting  suspicion.  It  now  remains  for  you  to  decide  whether 
those  views  can  be  accomplished.  Should  you  desire  to  consult 
your  nation  on  them,  it  is  in  my  power  to  give  you  all  the  infor- 
mation you  may  require." 

Mr.  Jefferson  having  intended  by  this  time  to  try  the  waters 
of  Aix  for  his  wrist,  wrote  to  his  unknown  correspondent  that 
he  would  meet  him  at  Nismes.  They  there  accordingly  met, 
and  the  Brazilian  gave  him  detailed  information  of  the  state  of 
his  country:  its  military  strength  and  resources:  the  different 
classes  of  its  population:  its  mines:  its  agriculture.  Mr.  Jefferson 
replied  to  him  with  proper  caution;  stated  that  he  had  no 


236  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

authority  whatever  to  treat  on  such  a  subject,  but  that  as  an 
individual,  he  could  give  his  opinion  that  the  United  States 
were  not  in  a  condition  to  engage  in  a  war;  though  our  citizens, 
who  are  free  to  enter  any  service  they  please,  might  per- 
haps be  tempted  to  embark  in  their  cause.  It  deserves  notice, 
that  nearly  about  the  time  that  Mr.  Jefferson  received  the  first 
communication  from  this  person,  he  was  waited  on  by  a  Mexi- 
can, with  similar  views,  as  to  the  emancipation  of  his  country 
from  Spain. 

Mr.  Jefferson  says  that  he  used  still  more  caution  with  this 
last  than  with  the  Brazilian,  in  consequence  of  having  observed 
that  he  was  intimate  at  the  Spanish  ambassador's,  and  that  he 
was  then  at  Paris,  employed  by  Spain  to  settle  her  boundaries 
with  France  on  the  Pyrenees. 

It  seems  highly  probable  that  both  these  individuals  were 
agents  of  their  respective  governments,  or  perhaps  of  Spain 
alone,  who  wished  thus  to  ascertain  the  part  which  our  govern- 
ment was  likely  to  take,  if  their  American  colonies  should  be 
tempted  to  follow  our  example;  or  she  might  have  sought  a 
pretext  for  avowing,  both  to  us  and  to  other  nations,  the  jealousy 
of  the  United  States  which  she  undoubtedly  felt,  and  for  refusing 
to  them  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi;  or  it  might  have  been 
the  device  of  some  petty  intriguer  of  any  nation,  who  aimed  in 
this  way  to  create  dissentions  between  those  governments  and 
ours. 

He  returned  to  Paris  on  the  llth  of  June,  and  although  the 
waters  of  Aix  were  of  no  service  to  his  wrist,  yet,  he  was  amply 
rewarded  for  the  trouble  of  his  journey,  by  the  pleasure  and 
information  it  afforded  him.  He  said  that  he  had  never  passed 
three  months  and  a  half  so  delightfully. 

While  the  new  constitution  which  the  states  found  it  neces- 
sary to  form,  from  the  utter  insufficiency  of  the  existing  con- 
federacy, was  under  discussion,  he  communicated  his  sentiments 
very  freely  to  Mr.  Madison,  and  they,  in  general,  strongly  mani- 
fest his  confidence  in  the  capacity  of  the  people  for  self  govern- 
ment, and  his  jealousy  of  their  delegates.  These  sentiments 
seem  to  have  determined  his  approval,  or  condemnation  of  each 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  237 

particular  provision,  whether  it  was  new  in  its  character,  or  had 
the  sanction  of  established  usage. 

Thus  he  was  decidedly  in  favour  of  separating  the  execu- 
tive, legislative,  and  judiciary  powers.  The  negative  proposed 
to  be  given  on  the  legislative  acts  of  the  several  states,  he  said, 
prima  facie,  he  did  not  like.  "It  fails  in  an  essential  character; 
the  hole  and  the  patch  should  be  commensurate.  But  this 
proposes  to  mend  a  small  hole  by  covering  the  whole  garment. 
Not  more  than  one  out  of  a  hundred  state  acts  concern  the 
confederacy.  This  proposition  then,  in  order  to  give  them  one 
degree  of  power  which  they  ought  to  have,  gives  them  ninety- 
nine  more  which  they  ought  not  to  have,  upon  a  presumption 
that  they  will  not  exercise  the  ninety-nine.  But  upon  every 
act  there  will  be  a  preliminary  question:  does  this  act  concern 
the  confederacy?  And  was  there  ever  a  proposition  so  plain  as 
to  pass  Congress  without  debate?  Their  decisions  are  almost 
always  wise;  they  are  like  pure  metal;  but  you  know  of  how 
much  dross  this  is  the  result." 

This  check  to  the  power  of  the  state  governments  is  said  to 
have  received  the  support  of  some  of  the  ablest  statesmen  in  the 
convention,  and  was  doubtless  suggested  to  them  by  the  violent 
opposition  which  the  proposed  constitution  already  encountered 
in  most  of  the  states,  and  the  hostility  that  might  be  anticipat- 
ed to  all  the  measures  of  the  federal  government.  Yet,  we 
can  scarcely  now  doubt  that  such  a  check  would  have  been 
inconvenient  and  vexatious  in  practice,  unless  indeed  it  had 
been  a  dead  letter,  and  that  it  would  have  had  the  effect  either 
of  bringing  the  states  under  complete  subjection  to  the  general 
government,  or  of  producing  irritation  and  bickerings  between 
the  two,  which,  if  they  had  not  endangered  their  union,  would 
have  more  than  compensated  any  advantage  of  giving  greater 
congruity  to  the  system. 

Mr.  Jefferson  suggests,  as  a  better  mode  of  effecting  the  same 
object,  that  there  should  be  an  appeal  from  the  state  judicature 
to  the  federal,  where  the  constitution  controlled  the  question, 
and  that  principle  finally  prevailed. 

It  had  been  proposed  to  him  to  join  Mr.  Carmichael  at  Ma- 


238  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

drid,  for  the  purpose  of  endeavouring  to  procure  the  assent  of 
the  Spanish  government  to  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi. 
Mr.  Short  had  also  urged  his  appointment  as  minister  to  Hol- 
land, for  the  purpose  of  negotiating  a  loan  there;  but  both  these 
offices  he  unhesitatingly  declined  from  considerations  of  pru- 
dence: the  first,  from  the  probability  of  failure,  and  the  fear  of 
exciting  the  jealousy  of  Mr.  Carmichael:  the  last,  because  it 
was  "a  business  which  would  be  the  most  disagreeable  to  him 
of  all  others,"  and  for  which  he  was  "the  most  unfit  person 
living,"  as  he  did  not  understand  bargaining,  nor  possessed  the 
dexterity  requisite  for  the  purpose. 

In  this  letter,  he  expresses  to  Mr.  Madison  some  fears  that 
the  same  divisions  which  he  had  witnessed  in  Congress,  as  to 
other  foreign  ministers,  would  exist  in  his  own  case;  and  the 
danger  was  the  greater,  from  the  fact,  that  there  generally 
being  but  seven  or  eight  states  present,  one  or  two  votes  might 
be  sufficient  to  reject  him.  He,  therefore,  requests  Mr.  Madi- 
son to  give  him  the  earliest  notice  of  such  a  result,  or  of  its  pro- 
bability, that  he  might  make  preparations  for  it:  as,  whenever 
he  left  the  place,  "it  would  be  necessary  for  him  to  begin  his 
arrangements  six  months  before  his  departure;  and  these  once 
fairly  begun,  and  under  way,  and  his  mind  set  homewards,  a 
change  of  purpose  could  hardly  take  place.1' 

In  his  solicitude  to  extend  the  commerce  of  the  United  States, 
he  was  naturally  actuated  by  his  wish  to  counteract  the  policy 
of  England,  as  well  as  to  benefit  his  own  country.  He  exerted 
himself  to  change  the  depot  of  rice  from  Cowes,  in  the  Isle  of 
Wight,  to  Honfleur,  on  the  Seine;  and  he  hoped  to  get  it  re- 
ceived at  the  latter  place,  so  as  to  "draw  that  branch  of  com- 
merce from  England."  When  in  Italy,  he  put  matters  into  a 
train  to  induce  the  government  there  "to  draw  their  tobaccos 
directly  from  the  United  States,  and  not  as  heretofore,  from 
Great  Britain." 

In  his  letter  to  Mr.  Adams,  of  July  1,  1787,  adverting  to  the 
successor  of  the  Count  de  Vergennes,  Monsieur  de  Montmorin, 
he  remarks,  "I  have  reasons  to  hope  good  dispositions  in  the 
new  ministry  towards  our  commerce  with  this  country.  Be- 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  239 

sides  endeavouring,  on  all  occasions,  to  multiply  the  points  of 
contact  and  connexion  with  this  country,  which  I  consider  as 
our  surest  main  stay  under  every  event,  I  have  had  it  much  at 
heart  to  remove  from  between  us  every  subject  of  misunder- 
standing or  irritation.  Our  debts  to  the  king,  the  officers,  and 
the  farmers,  are  of  this  description.  The  having  complied  with 
no  part  of  our  engagements  in  these,  draws  on  us  a  great  deal 
of  censure,  and  occasioned  a  language  in  the  Assemble  des  No- 
tables, very  likely  to  produce  dissatisfaction  between  us."  On 
this  account,  he  urged  Mr.  Adams  to  endeavour  to  effect  a  loan 
in  Holland,  by  which  the  debt  to  France  would  be  paid  ofE 
The  debt,  at  that  time,  due  from  the  United  States  to  the 
French  officers,  bore  an  interest  of  only  two  thousand  guineas; 
and  "this,  he  says,  makes  more  noise  against  us  than  all  our 
other  debts  put  together." 

At  this  time,  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  meeting  his  daughter 
Maria,  who  came  by  way  of  London,  and  was  then  about  nine 
years  of  age.  His  youngest,  Lucy,  died  at  Eppington,  in  Vir- 
ginia, the  year  preceding. 

He  lost  no  time  in  bringing  our  commercial  relations  with 
France  to  the  notice  of  the  Count  de  Montmorin,  and  in  a 
memoir,  written  for  the  occasion,  endeavoured  to  impress  on 
his  mind  the  following  recommendations  of  a  trade  with  Ameri- 
ca, compared  with  that  of  other  nations:  that  merchandise 
from  them  takes  employment  from  the  poor  of  France;  our's 
gives  it:  their's  is  brought  in  the  last  stage  of  manufacture;  our's 
in  the  first:  we  bring  our  tobaccos  to  be  manufactured  into 
snuff;  our  flax  and  hemp  into  linen  and  cordage;  our  furs  into 
hats;  skins  into  saddlery,  shoes,  and  clothing:  we  take  nothing 
till  it  has  received  the  last  hand.  In  a  few  days  afterwards, 
he  addressed  a  letter  to  him  on  the  subject  of  tobacco,  in  which 
he  reiterates  the  advantage  it  would  prove  to  the  commerce 
between  the  two  countries,  if  the  trade  in  that  commodity  were 
free,  on  the  payment  of  an  impost.  He  adds  these  general  rea- 
sons in  favour  of  an  unrestricted  commerce:  "nature,  too,  has 
conveniently  assorted  our  wants,  and  our  superfluities  to  each 
other.  Each  nation  has  exactly  to  spare  the  articles  which 


240  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

the  other  wants.  We  have  a  surplus  of  rice,  tobacco,  furs, 
peltry,  potash,  lamp  oils,  timber,  which  France  wants:  she  has 
a  surplus  of  wines,  brandies,  esculent  oils,  fruits  and  manufac- 
tures of  all  kinds,  which  we  want.  The  governments  have 
nothing  to  do,  but  not  to  hinder  their  merchants  from  making  the 
exchange.  The  difference  of  language,  laws,  and  customs,  will 
be  some  obstacle  for  a  time;  but  the  interest  of  the  merchants 
will  surmount  them." 

He  again  shows  how  deeply  he  was  impressed  with  the  mis- 
chiefs of  contracting  debt,  and  of  indulging  in  unwarrantable 
expenses,  to  which  the  southern  portion  of  his  countrymen  were 
particularly  exposed,  both  from  their  agricultural  pursuits,  and 
their  being  slave-holders.  He  feared  that  this  propensity  would 
perpetuate  their  dependance  on  British  merchants;  weaken 
their  sense  of  honour  and  justice;  and  justly  expose  the  nation, 
then  about  to  form  its  character  in  the  world,  to  those  taunts 
and  censures  of  the  English  people,  which  so  greatly  annoyed 
him.  To  one  correspondent,  Mr.  Henry  Skipwith,  who  married 
a  sister  of  Mrs.  Jefferson,  he  says,  "all  my  letters  are  filled  with 
details  of  our  extravagance.  From  these  accounts  I  look  back 
to  the  time  of  the  war,  as  a  time  of  happiness  and  enjoyment, 
when  amidst  the  privation  of  many  things  not  essential  to  hap- 
piness, we  could  not  run  in  debt,  because  nobody  would  trust 
us;  when  we  practised,  of  necessity,  the  maxim  of  buying  nothing 
but  what  we  had  money  in  our  pockets  to  pay  for;  a  maxim, 
which,  of  all  others,  lays  the  broadest  foundation  for  happiness."* 
''The  eternal  and  bitter  strictures  on  our  conduct  which  teem 
in  every  London  paper,  and  are  copied  from  them  into  others, 
fill  me  with  anxiety  on  this  subject." 

He  wrote  to  William  Drayton,  Esq.,  of  South  Carolina,  the 
result  of  his  enquiries  in  Italy  about  the  cultivation  of  rice,  and 
he  proceeds  to  consider  in  detail  the  several  objects  of  culture 
which  are  probably  suited  to  the  climate  of  that  state  and 

*  It  is  a  subject  of  melancholy  reflection,  that  neither  Mr.  Jefferson 
nor  his  correspondent  were  able  to  profit  by  these  wise  maxims.  They 
both  left  large  estates  so  encumbered  with  debt  as  to  afford  little  or  no 
provision  for  their  families. 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  241 

Georgia.  These  are  the  vine,  almond,  caper,  fig,  mulberry 
and  olive;  of  these,  he  unhesitatingly  rejects  the  vine,  the  cul- 
ture of  which  he  regards  as  not  desirable  in  lands  capable  of 
producing  any  thing  else.  "It  is  a  species  of  gambling,  and  of 
desperate  gambling  too,  wherein,  whether  you  make  much  or 
nothing,  you  are  equally  ruined.  The  middling  crop  alone  is 
the  saving  point,  and  that  the  seasons  seldom  hit.  Accordingly, 
we  see  much  wretchedness  among  this  class  of  cultivators. 
Wine,  too,  is  so  cheap  in  those  countries,  that  a  labourer  with 
us,  employed  in  the  culture  of  any  other  article,  may  exchange 
it  for  wine,  more,  and  better  than  he  could  raise  himself.  It  is 
a  resource  for  a  country,  the  whole  of  whose  good  soil  is  other- 
wise employed,  and  which  still  has  some  barren  spots,  and  a 
surplus  of  population  to  employ  on  them.  There  the  vine  is 
good,  because  it  is  something  in  the  place  of  nothing.  It  may 
hecome  a  resource  to  us  at  a  still  earlier  period;  when  the 
increase  of  population  shall  increase  our  productions  beyond  the 
demand  for  them,  both  at  home  and  abroad.  Instead  of  going 
on  to  make  a  useless  surplus  of  them,  we  may  emplo.y  our 
supernumerary  hands  on  the  vine." 

He  is  in  favour  both  of  the  fig  and  the  mulberry,  and  yet 
more  of  the  olive,  which  he  regards  as  "the  second  most  pre- 
cious gift  of  heaven  to  man,"  if  not  the  first.  "Perhaps,"  he 
says,  "it  may  claim  a  preference  even  to  bread;  because  there 
is  such  an  infinitude  of  vegetables,  which  it  renders  a  proper 
and  comfortable  nourishment:"  and  he  adds,  "if  the  memory  of 
those  persons  is  held  in  great  respect  in  South  Carolina,  who 
introduced  there  the  culture  of  rice,  a  plant  which  sows  life 
and  death  with  almost  equal  hand,  what  obligations  would  be 
due  to  him  who  should  introduce  the  olive  tree,  and  set  the 
example  of  its  culture." 

But  notwithstanding  these  various  recommendations,  the  cul- 
ture of  this  useful  plant  has  made  but  little  progress  in  our 
country  as  yet;  nor  is  it  likely  to  do  so,  as  long  as  animal  food, 
of  which  it  supplies  the  place,  has  its  present  abundance  and 
cheapness.  It  may  be  questioned,  whether  two  pounds  of  bacon, 
or  even  of  butter,  cannot  be  produced  with  more  ease  than  one 

VOL.  I.— 31 


242  THE  LIFE  QF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

pound  of  oil,  in  those  parts  of  our  country  in  which  the  olive 
can  grow. 

His  opinion  of  the  power  of  coercion  on  the  states  which  the 
articles  of  confederation  conferred  on  Congress,  differed  very 
•widely  from  that  of  some  who  profess  to  be  his  disciples,  and 
the  discrepancy  is  the  greater,  as  he  was  then  in  favour  of  a 
smaller  enlargement  of  the  powers  of  the  confederation  than 
actually  took  place.  He  thus  writes  to  Colonel  Edward  Car- 
rington,  of  Virginia,  on  the  4th  of  August,  1787. 

"My  general  plan  would  be  to  make  the  states  one,  as  to 
every  thing  connected  with  foreign  nations,  and  several,  as  to 
every  thing  purely  domestic.  But  with  all  the  imperfections  of 
our  present  government,  it  is,  without  comparison,  the  best 
existing,  or  that  ever  did  exist.  Its  greatest  defect  is  the  imper- 
fect manner  in  which  matters  of  commerce  have  been  provided 
for.  It  has  been  so  often  said  as  to  be  generally  believed,  that 
Congress  have  no  power  by  the  confederation  to  enforce  any 
thing;  for  example,  contributions  of  money.  It  was  not  neces- 
sary to  give  them  that  power  expressly;  they  have  it  by  the 
law  of  nature.  When  two  parties  make  a  compact,  there  results  to 
each  a  power  of  compelling  the  other  to  execute  it.  Compulsion  was 
never  so  easy  as  in  our  case,  where  a  single  frigate  would  soon 
levy  on  the  commerce  of  any  state,  the  deficiency  of  its  contri- 
butions; nor  more  safe  than  in  the  hands  of  Congress,  which  has 
always  shown  that  it  would  wait,  as  it  ought  to  do,  to  the  last 
extremities,  before  it  would  execute  any  of  the  powers  that  are 
disagreeable." 

He  seemed  to  feel  particular  solicitude  for  the  education  of 
his  nephew  Peter  Carr,  son  of  Dabney  Carr,  then  at  the  college 
of  William  and  Mary;  and  he  recommended  to  him  not  only  a 
very  comprehensive  course  of  study,  but  also  endeavoured  to 
inspire  him  with  good  precepts  of  conduct.  But  some  of  his 
notions  may  be  regarded  as  peculiar,  such  as  his  reasons  for 
thinking  moral  philosophy  not  a  useful  branch  of  education; 
and  his  opinion,  that  the  "writings  of  Sterne  form  the  best 
course  of  morality  that  ever  was  written." 

The  freedom  of  inquiry  into  the  truths  of  religion,  which  he 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  243 

inculcates  in  his  nephew,  has  been  generally  condemned.  For 
though  investigation  may  not  seem  objectionable  in  the  abstract, 
and  least  of  all,  be  feared  by  the  sincerely  religious,  yet  the  very 
coolness  that  is  here  recommended,  implies  an  indifference  to 
the  result,  which  is,  of  itself,  painful  to  the  true  believer.  Nor 
is  the  moralist  himself  without  his  fears  of  the  consequences. 

The  popular  religion  of  every  country  has  something  mingled 
with  it,  which  it  is  difficult  to  reconcile  with  reason  and  expe- 
rience; but  the  whole  has  been  impressed  on  the  tender  mind 
of  the  infant  as  sacred  truth,  and  the  creed  is  more  or  less  con- 
nected with  rules  for  his  moral  conduct.  There  is,  therefore, 
always  danger  that  in  shaking  the  pillars  of  the  one,  we  may, 
at  the  same  time,  weaken  the  foundations  of  the  other;  and 
that  he  who  has  lost  his  confidence  in  opinions,  which  he  once 
regarded  with  veneration,  will  feel  less  respect  for  those  prin- 
ciples of  action  which  were  intimately  associated  with  them. 
A  wise. lawgiver,  a  prudent  instructor  of  youth,  will  leave  indi- 
viduals to  follow  the  tenets  in  which  they  have  been  brought 
up,  where  they  are  not  manifestly  subversive  of  the  interests  of 
the  individual  or  society,  and  be  cautious  of  encouraging  a 
cavilling  spirit,  which  may  come  in  time  to  find  arguments  to 
release  its  possessor  from  the  obligations  of  every  religious  creed, 
and  every  code  of  morals. 

His  advice  to  the  same  nephew  on  the  subject  of  travelling 
is  founded  on  good  sense  and  acute  observation  on  human  life. 
"Travelling,"  he  says,  "makes  men  wiser,  but  less  happy. 
When  men  of  sober  age  travel,  they  gather  knowledge,  which 
they  may  apply  usefully  for  their  country;  but  they  are  subject 
ever  after  to  recollections  mixed  with  regret;  their  affections 
are  weakened  by  being  extended  over  more  objects;  and  they 
learn  new  habits  which  cannot  be  gratified  when  they  return 
home.  Young  men  who  travel  are  exposed  to  all  those  incon- 
veniences in  a  higher  degree;  to  others  still  more  serious;  and 
do  not  acquire  that  wisdom  for  which  a  previous  foundation  is 
requisite,  by  repeated  and  just  observations  at  home.  The 
glare  of  pomp  and  pleasure  is  analogous  to  the  motion  of  the 
blood;  it  absorbs  all  their  affection  and  attention;  they  are  torn 


244  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

from  it  as  from  the  only  good  in  this  world,  and  return  to  their 
home  as  to  a  place  of  exile  and  condemnation.  Their  eyes  are 
forever  turned  back  to  the  object  they  have  lost,  and  its  recol- 
lection poisons  the  residue  of  their  lives.  Their  first  and  most 
delicate  passions  are  hackneyed  on  unworthy  objects  here,  and 
they  carry  home  the  dregs,  insufficient  to  make  themselves  or 
any  body  else  happy.  Add  to  this  that  a  habit  of  idleness,  an 
inability  to  apply  themselves  to  business,  is  acquired,  and  renders 
them  useless  to  themselves  and  their  country." 

The  preceding  remarks  are,  however,  more  particularly  ap- 
plicable to  the  traveller  from  this  country  to  the  luxurious 
regions  of  Europe.  The  taste  for  their  more  pungent  and 
diversified  enjoyments  weakens  the  relish  for  the  simpler  plea- 
sures of  their  native  land.  Yet  there  is  occasionally  much  to 
outweigh  these  disadvantages.  Nothing  so  effectually  rids  one 
of  narrow  local  prejudices  as  visiting  other  countries,  and  fami- 
liarizing himself  to  modes  of  thinking  and  acting  different  from 
his  own.  It  moreover  often  teaches  him  to  prize  his  own  country 
the  more  for  the  comparison;  and  his  affection  for  it  may  be 
increased,  not  only  by  absence  itself,  but  by  those  frequent  as- 
saults on  his  national  pride  which  every  traveller  abroad  is  sure 
to  experience.  By  this  process  many  a  malcontent  has  returned 
home  a  zealous  and  approving  patriot.  Perhaps  the  best  way 
for  us  to  secure  the  benefits  of  travel  and  avoid  its  evils,  is  to 
remain  long  enough  for  its  pleasures  to  lose  the  zest  of  novelty, 
but  not  long  enough  to  let  our  relish  for  its  modes  of  life  acquire 
the  force  of  habit. 

A  letter  to  Dr.  Gilmer,  a  much  respected  neighbour  and  a 
well  educated  physician,  remarkable  for  his  companionable 
qualities,  shows  that  his  long  estrangement  from  the  practice  of 
the  law  had  not  made  him  forget  its  principles.  A  gentleman 
of  the  name  of  Harmer  had  devised  a  considerable  landed  estate 
to  Dr.  Gilmer,  and  the  question,  which  was  a  nice  one,  was, 
whether  the  words  conveyed  only  a  life  estate,  or  an  absolute 
property.  Mr.  Jefferson  pronounced  in  favour  of  the  latter  con- 
struction, and  that  proved  the  final  decision  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States  many  years  afterwards. 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  245 

While  Houdon  was  employed  about  the  statue  of  Washington, 
the  old  question,  whether  the  costume  should  be  ancient  or 
modern,  arose;  and  the  general  having  signified  that  he  approved 
the  modern  dress,  Mr.  Jefferson  wrote  to  him  in  August,  and 
stated  that  West,  Copeley,  Trumbull,  and  Brown,  as  well  as 
himself,  also  preferred  it.  "I  think,"  said  he,  "a  modern  in  an 
antique  dress,  is  just  as  much  an  object  of  ridicule  as  a  Hercules 
or  Marius  with  a  periwig  or  chapeau  bras." 

But  the  opposite  opinion  will  not  be  found  so  unreasonable  or 
absurd  as  it  may  at  first  sight  appear.  The  objection  to  the 
modern  dress  is,  that  its  forms  are  constantly  changing,  and 
after  a  few  years  a  dress,  which  may  be  associated  with  rank 
and  dignity,  may  become,  by  intervening  changes  of  the  fashion, 
supremely  quaint  and  ridiculous,  and  be  so  far  utterly  incon- 
sistent with  the  sentiments  of  respect  and  veneration  which  it 
is  the  object  of  the  statuary  to  inspire.  It  must  be  recollected 
that  a  work  of  marble  is  meant  for  the  eyes  not  of  contempo- 
raries merely,  but  for  those  of  succeeding  ages — a  far  greater 
number — and  if  a  representation  of  an  individual  in  the  dress 
which  he  actually  wore  may  give  those  who  have  seen  the  ori- 
ginal a  juster  idea  of  him  than  one  in  a  foreign  dress,  yet  the 
same  representation  is  likely  to  give  the  greater  number  who 
have  never  seen  him  a  more  mistaken  notion  of  him,  thus  pre- 
sented to  them  in  a  grotesque  costume,  than  an  antique  dress 
in  which  the  eye,  having  always  been  familiar  with  it,  finds 
nothing  ludicrous  or  contemptible.  In  a  word,  it  seems  better 
that  a  few  should  see  a  small  unimportant  incongruity  between 
the  statue  and  the  original,  than  that  a  much  larger  number 
should  be  made  to  see  that  which  conflicts  with  all  ideas  of 
moral  grandeur  and  dignity. 

The  antique  dress  has  this  intrinsic  advantage  over  the  mo- 
dern, that  it  approaches  nearer  to  the  simplicity  of  nature,  so 
that  however  it  may  deviate  from  the  prevailing  fashion,  it 
never  shocks  those  to  whom  it  may  be  new,  as  wild  or  uncouth. 
It  is  on  this  account,  principally,  that  it  is  preferable  to  a  mo- 
dern costume.  But  even  if  it  deviated  as  much  from  simplicity, 
if  it  were  equally  fantastic  and  bizarre,  it  would  still  have  this 


246  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSOX. 

advantage  over  a  modern  dress,  that  all  eyes  have  been  more 
or  less  familiarized  to  it,  which  is  not  the  case  with  the  ever 
changing  fashions  of  the  day;  and  hy  force  of  very  natural 
associations,  the  ancient  costume  is  intimately  connected  in  our 
minds  with  the  beau  ideal  both  of  the  physical  and  moral  man.* 

His  views  of  the  great  events  which  were  then  passing  in 
France  were  very  correctly  detailed  to  his  correspondents,  and 
the  reflections  and  anticipations  they  suggested  were  in  general 
justified  by  the  event.  After  noticing  the  good  of  which  the 
assembly  of  Notables  had  been  productive,  he  adds,f  "Notwith- 
standing all  this,  the  discovery  of  the  abominable  abuses  of 
public  money  by  the  late  Comptroller  General,  some  new  ex- 
penses of  the  court,  not  of  a  piece  with  the  projects  of  reforma- 
tion, and  the  imposition  of  new  taxes,  have  in  the  course  of  a 
few  weeks  raised  a  spirit  of  discontent  in  this  nation,  so  great 
and  so  general  as  to  threaten  serious  consequences.  The  par- 
liaments in  general,  and  particularly  that  of  Paris,  put  them- 
selves at  the  head  of  this  effervescence,  and  direct  its  object  to 
the  calling  the  states  general,  who  have  not  been  assembled 
since  1714.  The  object  is,  to  fix  a  constitution,  and  to  limit 
expenses.  The  king  has  been  obliged  to  hold  a  bed  of  justice 
to  enforce  the  registering  the  new  taxes:  the  parliament,  on 
their  side,  propose  to  issue  a  prohibition  against  their  execution. 
Very  possibly  this  may  bring  on  their  exile.  The  mild  and 
patriotic  character  of  the  new  ministry  is  the  principal  depen- 
dence against  this  extremity."  The  parliament,  as  he  feared, 
were  exiled  the  next  day  to  Troyes,  seventy  miles  from  Paris. 

Speaking  of  the  prospect  of  a  war  in  Europe,  which  then 
appeared  probable,  and  of  its  seeming  benefits  to  us  as  a  neutral 
nation,  he  makes  the  following  reflections,  which  have  well 

*  Chantrey  has  made  a  happy  compromise  between  these  two  styles 
of  dress  in  his  statue  of  Washington  in  Boston;  for  while  he  would  not 
venture  to  represent  the  leader  of  the  American  armies  in  a  Grecian  or 
Roman  costume,  on  the  very  spot  where  he  first  assumed  the  command, 
yet  he  has  given  to  him  a  dress  which  is  without  particularity,  and  holds 
a  middle  place  between  the  modern  and  antique. 

tJefi:Mem.Vol.II.p.222. 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  247 

accorded  with  the  subsequent  experience  of  the  United  States. 
"The  wealth  acquired  by  speculation  and  plunder  is  fugacious 
in  its  nature,  and  fills  society  with  the  spirit  of  gambling.  The 
moderate  and  sure  income  of  industry  begets  permanent  im- 
provement, quiet  life,  and  orderly  conduct,  both  public  and 
private.  We  have  no  occasion  for  more  commerce  than  to  take 
off  our  superfluous  produce,  and  the  people  complain  that  some 
restrictions  prevent  this;  yet  the  price  of  articles  with  us,  in 
general,  shows  the  contrary.  Tobacco,  indeed,  is  low,  not  be- 
cause we  cannot  carry  it  where  we  please,  but  because  we  make 
more  than  the  consumption  requires.  Upon  the  whole,  I  think 
peace  advantageous  to  us,  necessary  for  Europe,  and  desirable 
for  humanity." 

Being  a  close  and  attentive  observer  of  those  movements,  both 
of  the  government  and  people  of  France,  which  portended 
change,  but  whose  real  consequences  the  most  fertile  imagination 
never  approached,  his  letters  at  that  time  give  not  a  very  faint 
outline  of  the  French  revolution,  and  occasionally  spirited 
sketches  of  the  passing  events;  though  he  seems,  in  his  narratives 
to  correspondents,  to  have  aimed  rather  at  accuracy  than  effect. 
About  the  last  of  August  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Adams: — "I  have 
brought  together  the  principal  facts,  from  the  adjournment  of 
the  Notables  to  the  present  moment,  which,  as  you  will  perceive 
from  their  nature,  required  a  confidential  conveyance.  I  have 
done  it  the  rather,  because  you  will  have  heard  many  of  them, 
and  seen  them  in  the  public  papers;  yet,  floating  in  the  mass  of 
lies  which  constitute  the  atmosphere  of  London  and  Paris,  you 
may  not  have  been  sure  of  their  truth,  and  I  have  mentioned 
every  truth  of  any  consequence,  to  enable  you  to  stamp  as  false 
the  facts  pretermitted.  I  think  that  in  the  course  of  three 
months  the  royal  authority  has  lost,  and  the  rights  of  the  nation 
gained,  because  it  is  defended  by  the  young  and  middle  aged, 
in  opposition  to  the  old  only.  The  first  party  increases  and  the 
latter  diminishes  daily  from  the  course  of  nature." 

He  had  some  short  time  before  thus  sketched  the  state  of 
things  in  Paris,  while  the  contest  was  going  on  between  the 
king  and  the  parliament  about  registering  the  edicts  for  new 


248  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

taxes:  "In  the  mean  time  all  tongues  in  Paris,  (and  in  France 
it  is  said,)  have  been  let  loose,  and  never  was  a  license  of  speak- 
ing against  the  government  exercised  in  London  more  freely  or 
more  universally.  Caricatures,  placards,  bon  mots,  have  been 
indulged  in  by  all  ranks  of  people,  and  I  know  of  no  well  attest- 
ed instance  of  a  single  punishment.  For  some  time,  mobs  of 
ten,  twenty,  and  thirty  thousand  people,  collected  daily,  sur- 
rounded the  parliament  house,  huzzaed  the  members,  even  en- 
tered the  doors  and  examined  into  their  conduct,  took  the  horses 
out  of  the  carriages  of  those  who  did  well,  and  drew  them  home. 
The  government  thought  it  prudent  to  prevent  them;  drew 
some  regiments  into  the  neighbourhood,  multiplied  the  guards, 
had  the  streets  constantly  patrolled  by  strong  parties,  suspended 
privileged  places,  forbade  all  clubs,  &c.  The  mobs  have  ceased: 
perhaps  this  may  be  partly  owing  to  the  absence  of  parliament. 
The  Count  d'Artois,  sent  to  hold  a  bed  of  justice  in  the  Cour 
des  Aides,  was  hissed  and  hooted  without  reserve  by  the  popu- 
lace; the  carriage  of  Madame  de  (I  forget  the  name)  in  the 
queen's  livery,  was  stopped  by  the  populace,  under  the  belief 
that  it  was  Madame  de  Polignac,  whom  they  would  have  in- 
sulted; the  queen,  going  to  the  theatre  at  Versailles  with  Ma- 
dame de  Polignac,  was  received  with  a  general  hiss.  The  king, 
long  in  the  habit  of  drowning  his  cares  in  wine,  plunges  deeper 
and  deeper.  The  queen  cries,  but  sins  on.  The  Count  d'Artois 
is  detested,  and  Monsieur  the  general  favourite.  The  archbishop 
of  Thoulouse  is  made  minister  principal;  a  virtuous,  patriotic, 
and  able  character." 

In  a  letter  to  his  old  preceptor,  Mr.  Wythe,  he  thus  speaks 
of  the  Federal  Convention,  in  answer  to  that  gentleman's  in- 
quiry about  his  views.  "My  own  general  idea  was,  that  the 
states  should  generally  preserve  their  sovereignty  in  whatever 
concerns  themselves  alone;  and  that  whatever  may  concern 
another  state,  or  any  foreign  nation,  should  be  made  a  part  of 
the  federal  sovereignty.  That  the  exercise  of  the  federal  sove- 
reignty should  be  divided  among  three  several  bodies — legisla- 
tive, executive,  and  judiciary,  as  the  state  sovereignties  are; 
and  that  some  peaceable  means  should  be  contrived  for  the 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  249 

federal  head  to  force  compliance  on  the  part  of  the  states." 
Knowing  his  correspondent's  classical  predilections,  in  adverting 
to  the  recent  rupture  between  the  Turks  and  Russians,  he  adds, 
"Constantinople  is  the  key  of  Asia — Who  shall  have  it?  is  the 
question.  I  cannot  help  looking  forward  to  the  re-establishment 
of  the  Greeks  as  a  people,  and  the  language  of  Homer  becoming 
again  a  living  language,  as  among  possible  events.  You  have 
now  with  you  Mr.  Paradise,  who  can  tell  you  how  easily  the 
modern  may  be  improved  into  the  ancient  Greek." 

Amidst  the  serious  and  momentous  concerns  on  both  sides  of 
the  Atlantic  which  now  engaged  his  attention,  we  may  find 
amusement  in  the  penalty  which  he  had  to  pay  for  his  zeal  to 
convince  the  Count  de  Buffon  that  he  had  underrated  the  ani- 
mal creation  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  He  had  written  to 
Mr.  Sullivan,*  in  Maine,  to  procure  him  the  skin  and  skeleton 
of  a  moose.  Some  time  afterwards,  a  bill  was  presented  to  him 
for  payment,  drawn  by  Mr.  Sullivan,  and  as  it  was  accompanied 
by  no  letter,  he  conjectured  it  to  be  on  account  of  the  moose, 
except  that  its  amount  seemed  to  be  too  great  for  that  object. 

He  soon  afterwards,  however,  did  receive  a  letter  from  Mr. 
Sullivan,  by  which  his  conjecture  was  confirmed:  and  he  thus 
good  humouredly  speaks  of  it  to  Colonel  Smith,  Mr.  Adams's 
son-in-law,  who  was  then  in  London.  "You  ask  if  you  shall 
say  any  thing  to  Sullivan  about  the  bill.  No,  only  that  it  is 
paid.  I  have,  within  two  or  three  days  received  letters  from 
him,  explaining  the  matter.  It  was  my  fault,  that  I  had  not 
given  him  a  rough  idea  of  the  expense  I  would  be  willing  to 
incur  for  them.  He  had  made  the  acquisition  an  object  of  a 
regular  campaign,  and  that  too  of  a  winter  one.  The  troops  he 
employed  sallied  forth,  as  he  writes  me,  in  the  month  of  March 
— much  snow — a  herd  attacked — one  killed  in  the  wilderness — 
a  road  to  cut  twenty  miles — to  be  drawn  by  hand  from  the 
frontiers  to  his  house — bones  to  be  cleaned,  &c.  &c.  &c.  In 

*  General  John  Sullivan.    I  have  had  the  curiosity  to  know  how  much 
was  paid  for  the  bones  of  the  moose,  and  find  it  to  be  entered  in  the  ac- 
count of  his  current  expenses,  46/.  17  10  sterling,  equivalent  to  220  dol- 
lars, which  was  probably  ten  times  as  much  as  he  expected. 
VOL.  I.— 32 


250  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

fine,  he  put  himself  to  an  infinitude  of  trouble,  more  than  I 
meant:  he  did  it  cheerfully,  and  I  feel  myself  really  under  obli- 
gations to  him.  That  the  tragedy  might  not  want  a  proper 
catastrophe,  the  box,  bones  and  all  are  lost:  so  that  this  chap- 
ter of  Natural  History  will  still  remain  a  blank.  But  I  have 
written  to  him  not  to  send  me  another.  I  will  leave  it  for  my 
successor  to  fill  up,  whenever  I  shall  make  my  bow  here." 

It  seems,  however,  that  the  skeleton  of  this  moose,  which  was 
to  vindicate  the  insulted  honour  of  its  country,  did  arrive  in 
safety  a  few  days  afterwards,  and  was,  in  due  form,  sent  to  the 
Count  de  Buffori. 

If  governments  are  sometimes  able  to  conceal  their  projects 
until  they  are  ripe  for  execution,  it  must  be  admitted  on  the 
other  hand,  that  they  are  often  suspected  of  designs  for  which 
there  is  no  foundation.  It  seems  probable  that  the  imputation 
against  Mr.  Pitt,  in  the  following  exiract  of  a  letter  from  Mr. 
Jefferson  to  Mr.  Jay,  of  aiming  to  re-establish  the  British  do- 
minion in  America,  is  of  this  character.  Knowing  the  animosity 
then  felt  by  England  towards  this  country,  he  seemed  to  believe 
it  capable  of  any  scheme  of  injury,  however  impolitic,  extra- 
vagant, or  impracticable.  "The  following  solution  of  the  Bri- 
tish armaments  is  supposed,  in  a  letter  of  the  25th  ultimo,  from 
Colonel  Blachden,  of  Connecticut,  now  at  Dunkirk,  to  the  Mar- 
quis de  La  Fayette.  I  will  cite  it  in  his  own  words.  'A  gen- 
tleman who  left  London  two  days  ago,  and  came  to  this  place 
to-day,  informs  me,  that  it  is  now  generally  supposed,  that  Mr. 
Pitt's  great  secret,  which  has  puzzled  the  whole  nation  so  long, 
and  to  accomplish  which  design  the  whole  nation  is  armed,  is 
to  make  a  vigorous  effort  for  the  recovery  of  America.'  When 
I  recollect  the  delay  they  have  made  in  delivering  the  forts  in 
America,  and  that  little  more  than  a  year  ago,  one  of  the  Bri- 
tish ministry  wrote  to  the  king  a  letter,  in  which  were  these 
remarkable  words,  'if  your  majesty  pleases,  America  may 
yet  be  yours;'  add  to  this,  if  it  were  possible  for  the  present 
ministry  in  England  to  effect  such  a  matter,  they  would  secure 
their  places  and  their  power  for  a  long  time,  and  should  they 
fail  in  the  end,  they  would  be  certain  of  holding  them  during 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  251 

the  attempt,  which  it  is  in  their  power  to  prolong  as  much  as 
they  please;  and,  at  all  events,  they  would  boast  of  having 
endeavoured  the  recovery  of  what  a  former  ministry  had  aban- 
doned, it  is  possible." 

"A  similar  surmise  has  come  in  a  letter  from  a  person  in 
Rotterdam  to  one  at  this  place.  I  am  satisfied  that  the  king  of 
England  believes  the  mass  of  our  people  to  be  tired  of  their 
independence,  and  desirous  of  returning  under  his  government; 
and  that  the  same  opinion  prevails  in  the  ministry  and  nation. 
They  have  hired  their  news-writers  to  repeat  this  lie  in  their 
Gazettes  so  long,  that  they  have  become  the  dupes  of  it  them- 
selves. But  there  is  no  occasion  to  recur  to  this,  in  order  to 
account  for  their  arming.  A  more  rational  purpose  avowed, 
that  purpose  executed,  and  when  executed,  a  solemn  agreement 
to  disarm,  seem  to  leave  no  doubt  that  the  re-establishment  of 
the  stadtholder  was  their  object.  Yet,  it  is  possible  that,  having 
found  this  court  will  not  make  war  in  this  moment  for  an  ally, 
new  views  may  arise,  and  they  may  think  the  moment  favour- 
able for  executing  any  purposes  they  may  have  in  our  quarter." 
He,  therefore,  earnestlv  recommends  that  the  present  season  of 
truce,  or  peace,  should  be  used  to  fill  our  magazines  with  arms. 


252 


CHAPTER  XI. 


Mr.  Jefferson's  views  of  the  Federal  Constitution.  His  two  principal 
objections.  Visits  Holland.  National  credit  in  Amsterdam.  Pri- 
soners in  Algiers.  Plan  of  liberating  them.  Expenses  of  American 
ministers.  Consular  convention.  Gordon's  History  of  the  American 
Revolution.  Some  opinions  in  physical  science— faith  in  its  im~ 
provements.  Silas  Deane's  letter  book.  Claims  of  French  officers. 
Memoir  on  the  admission  of  American  fish  oil  into  France.  Asks 
leave  to  return  home.  Views  of  the  future  policy  of  the  United  States. 
Progress  of  the  French  Revolution,  Meeting  of  the  states-general. 
Scarcity  of  bread  in  Paris.  Complaints  of  French  officers  against 
the  United  States. 

1787—1789. 

Iff  September,  of  the  present  year,  the  convention  which  had 
met  in  Philadelphia  to  form  a  federal  constitution,  terminated 
its  labours,  after  a  session  of  four  months,  with  closed  doors, 
and  submitted  the  constitution  it  had  framed  to  the  people  of 
the  several  states  for  their  ratification.  Mr.  Jefferson  seems, 
at  an  early  period,  to  have  been  dissatisfied  with  it,  both  on 
account  of  some  of  the  articles  it  contained,  and  of  others  it 
omitted.  His  opinions  can  be  collected  from  his  remarks  to  his 
several  correspondents.  It  not  only  gratifies  our  curiosity  to 
know  the  first  impressions  on  this  important  subject,  of  one 
whose  opinions  afterwards  became  the  standard  of  orthodoxy 
with  the  democratic  party  of  the  country,  but  as  these  specula- 
tions of  Mr.  Jefferson  have  been  since  tested  by  experience, 
they  cannot  but  be  instructive  in  the  intricate  science  of 
government,  whether  that  experience  has  tended  to  invalidate 
or  confirm  them. 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  253 

In  November  he  writes  to  Mr.  Adams,  "How  do  you  like  our 
new  constitution?  I  confess  there  are  things  in  it  which  stagger 
all  my  dispositions  to  subscribe  to  what  such  an  assembly  has 
proposed.  The  house  of  federal  representatives  will  not  be 
adequate  to  the  management  of  affairs,  either  foreign  or  federal. 
Their  president  seems  a  bad  edition  of  a  Polish  king.  He  may 
be  elected  from  four  years  to  four  years  for  life.  Reason  and 
experience  prove  to  us  that  a  chief  magistrate  so  continuable 
is  an  office  for  life.  When  one  or  two  generations  shall  have 
proved  that  there  is  an  office  for  life,  it  becomes  on  every  suc- 
cession worthy  of  intrigue,  of  bribery,  force,  and  even  of  foreign 
interference.  It  will  be  of  great  consequence  to  France  and 
England  to  have  America  governed  by  a  Galloman  or  Anglo- 
man.  Once  in  office,  and  possessing  the  military  force  of  the 
union  without  the  aid  or  check  of  a  council,  he  would  not  be 
easily  dethroned,  even  if  the  people  could  be  induced  to  with- 
draw their  votes  from  him.  I  wish  at  the  end  of  the  four  years 
they  had  made  him  for  ever  ineligible  a  second  time." 

To  Colonel  Smith  he  says  of  the  constitution,  "there  are  very 
good  articles  in  it,  and  very  bad.  I  do  not  know  which  prepon- 
derate. What  we  have  lately  read  in  the  history  of  Holland, 
in  the  chapter  on  the  stadtholder,  would  have  sufficed  to  set 
me  against  a  chief  magistrate  eligible  for  a  long  duration,  if 
I  had  ever  been  disposed  towards  one:  and  what  we  have  always 
read  of  the  elections  of  Polish  kings,  would  have  forever  exclud- 
ed the  idea  of  one  continuable  for  life."  Apprehending  that 
arguments  would  be  drawn  for  this  enlargement  of  the  powers 
of  the  federal  government  generally,  and  of  its  executive,  in  par- 
ticular, from  the  recent  insurrection  in  Massachusetts,  he  speaks 
of  it  not  only  as  an  unimportant  affair,  but  as  scarcely  to  be 
deprecated.  "God  forbid,"  he  exclaims,  "we  should  ever  be 
twenty  years  without  such  a  rebellion.  The  people  cannot  be 
all,  and  always  well  informed.  The  part  which  is  wrong  will 
be  discontented,  in  proportion  to  the  importance  of  the  facts 
they  misconceive.  If  they  remain  quiet  under  such  miscon- 
ceptions, it  is  a  lethargy,  the  forerunner  of  death  to  the  public 
liberty.  We  have  had  thirteen  states  independent  for  eleven 


254  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

years.  There  has  been  one  rebellion.  That  comes  to  one 
rebellion  in  a  century  and  a  half  for  each  state.  What  coun- 
try before  ever  existed  a  century  and  a  half  without  a  rebel- 
lion? And  what  country  can  preserve  its  liberties,  if  its  rulers 
are  not  warned,  from  time  to  time,  that  this  people  preserve 
the  spirit  of  resistance?  Let  them  take  arms.  The  remedy  is 
to  set  them  right  as  to  facts,  pardon  and  pacify  them.  What 
signify  a  few  lives  lost  in  a  century  or  two?  The  tree  of  liberty 
must  be  refreshed,  from  time  to  time,  with  the  blood  of  patriots 
and  tyrants.  It  is  its  natural  manure.  Our  convention  has 
been  too  much  impressed  by  the  insurrection  of  Massachusetts; 
and  on  the  spur  of  the  moment,  they  are  setting  up  a  kite  to 
keep  the  henyard  in  order." 

But  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Madison,  in  December,  he  discloses  his 
opinions  more  at  length.  The  features  of  the  constitution  which 
he  approved,  were  the  self-acting  power  of  the  general  govern- 
ment, by  which  it  could  peaceably  go  on  without  recurring  to 
the  state  legislatures:  the  separation  of  the  legislative,  execu- 
tive and  judiciary  powers:  the  powers  of  taxation  given  to  the 
Legislature:  and  the  election  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
by  the  people.  He  doubts,  however,  whether  the  members 
would  be  as  well  qualified  for  their  duties  when  chosen  by 
the  people,  as  if  they  were  chosen  by  the  Legislature.  He 
was  captivated  by  the  compromise  between  the  great  and  the 
small  states — the  latter,  having  the  equality  they  asserted  in  the 
Senate;  the  former,  the.  proportion  of  influence  they  regarded 
as  their  right  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  He  preferred 
too  the  voting  by  persons,  instead  of  by  states:  and  he  approved 
the  qualified  negative  given  to  the  executive,  though  he  would 
have  liked  it  still  better  if  the  judiciary  had  been  invested  with 
a  similar  check. 

The  grounds  of  his  disapprobation  were,  the  omission  of  a  bill 
of  rights,  providing,  clearly  and  without  the  aid  of  sophisms,  for 
the  freedom  of  religion,  freedom  of  the  press,  security  against 
standing  armies,  restriction  of  monopolies,  trial  by  jury,  and 
against  all  suspensions  of  the  habeas  corpus.  He  denied  the 
principle  that  all  is  reserved  which  is  not  given  to  the  gene- 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  255 

ral  government;  because  he  thought  that  inferences  to  the 
contrary  might  be  drawn  from  the  instrument  itself,  and  be- 
cause, in  the  articles  of  the  old  confederation,  there  was 
such  an  express  reservation.  He  also  disliked  the  abandon- 
ment of  the  principle  of  rotation  in  office,  especially  in  that  of 
the  president,  and  infers  that,  in  consequence  of  the  omission, 
he  will  be  elected  for  life.  The  election  of  a  president  of 
America,  he  thinks,  will  some  years  hence  be  much  more  in- 
teresting to  some  nations  of  Europe  than  the  election  of  a 
king  of  Poland  ever  was.  He  presses  this  point  at  great  length, 
by  arguments  drawn  from  the  examples  of  the  Roman  Empe- 
rors, the  Popes,  Emperors  of  Germany,  Kings  of  Poland,  and 
Deys  of  the  Ottoman  Empire:  and  he  ascribes  what  he  regards 
as  too  liberal  a  grant  of  power  to  the  federal  government,  to 
the  alarm. excited  by  the  Massachusetts  insurrection.  He  speaks 
lightly  of  this;  and  having  appealed  to  experience,  to  decide 
whether  peace  is  best  preserved  by  giving  energy  to  the  govern- 
ment, or  information  to  the  people,  he  thus  concludes:  "This 
last,  is  the  most  certain  and  the  most  legitimate  engine  of 
government.  Educate  and  inform  the  whole  mass  of  the  peo- 
ple. Enable  them  to  see  that  it  is  their  interest  to  preserve 
peace  and  order,  and  they  will  preserve  them.  And  it  requires 
no  very  high  degree  of  education  to  convince  them  of  this. 
They  are  the  only  sure  reliance  for  the  preservation  of  our 
liberty.  After  all,  it  is  my  principle,  that  the  will  of  the 
majority  should  prevail.  If  they  approve  the  proposed  construc- 
tion in  all  its  parts,  I  shall  concur  in  it  cheerfully,  in  hopes 
they  will  amend  it,  whenever  they  shall  find  it  works  wrong." 

To  another  friend  he  writes,  "as  to  the  new  constitution,  I 
find  myself  nearly  a  neutral.  There  is  a  great  mass  of  good  in 
it,  in  a  very  desirable  form;  but  there  is  also,  to  me,  a  bitter 
pill  or  two. 

He  seems  to  have  gradually  become  more  in  favour  of  it  as  a 
whole,  and  to  have  looked  to  amendments  for  the  purpose  of 
incorporating  with  it  a  bill  of  rights,  and  such  other  principles 
as  he  deemed  salutary.  To  the  re-eligibility  of  the  president, 
Jie  never  ceases  to  object,  as  immediately  pregnant  with  the 


256  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

mischief  of  foreign  interference,  and  remotely  with  a  change  in 
the  form  of  government.  He  feared  it  would,  as  he  wrote  to 
General  Washington,  make  that  an  office  for  life  first,  and  then 
hereditary. 

His  fears,  as  to  this  part  of  the  constitution-,  have  so  far 
proved  unfounded.*  No  president,  during  a  period  of  forty- four 
years  has  been  re-elected  but  once,  and  two  have  failed  of  a 
re-election;  nor  would  it  be  now  practicable  for  any  one,  what- 
ever were  his  services  or  qualifications,  to  be  chosen  beyond  two 
terms.  The  mischief  of  foreign  interposition  has  never  been 
experienced,  and  it  every  day  becomes  more  and  more  imprac- 
ticable. There  are  in  this  country  neither  the  inducements  to 
interfere,  nor  the  means  of  interfering,  which  existed  in  a  coun- 
try of  Europe,  surrounded  by  ambitious  and  rival  neighbours, 
who  were  connected  with  it  by  numerous  ties  of  interest  or 
policy,  and  where  the  votes  were  held  but  by  a  very  small  pro- 
portion of  the  community.  The  ineligibility  is,  however,  still 
thought  by  many  to  be  desirable,  not  merely  for  the  reasons 
assigned  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  but  also  for  the  sake  of  lessening  the 
attractions  and  influence  of  that  office,  and  thereby  diminishing 
the  party  feuds,  intrigues  and  dissentions,  which  not  only  dis- 
turb the  peace  and  harmony  of  social  intercourse,  but  impede 
or  divert  the  proper  action  of  the  government  itself. 

In  the  beginning  of  March,  1788,  the  financial  concerns  of  the 
United  States  made  it  necessary  for  Mr.  Jefferson  to  go  to  Hol- 
land. The  impossibility  of  collecting  from  the  several  states 
the  requisitions  of  Congress,  compelled  them  to  rely  upon  loans 


*  The  experience  of  the  United  States  may  seem  to  have  disproved  this 
reasoning  of  Mr.  Jefferson;  yet.  if  the  examples  of  General  Washington 
and  Mr.  Jefferson  himself  had  not,  by  their  peremptorily  declining  re-elec- 
tion after  two  terms,  done  so  much  to  impress  on  the  public  mind  the  im- 
portance of  narrowing  the  president's  re-eligibility,  and  to  give  it  the  force 
of  usage,  it  is  not  easy  to  say,  whether  the  office  would  not  have  gradu- 
ally become  an  office  for  life.  And  whilst  that  result  could  not  now  occur, 
since  the  usage  has  received  such  confirmation,  without  important 
changes  in  the  public  sentiment,  yet,  many  believe  that  these  changes 
are  very  possible,  and  consequently,  that  the  danger  which  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son apprehended  is  not  yet  over. 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  257 

in  Europe,  for  the  means  of  paying  even  the  interest  on  the 
foreign  debts.  The  treasury  board,  which  at  that  time  manag- 
ed the  financial  concerns  of  the  general  government,  not  doubt- 
ing that  the  loan  which  had  been  authorized  in  Holland  would 
be  effected,  had  relied  on  this  resource,  and  had  so  written  to 
the  American  ministers  abroad.  But  an  unexpected  difficulty 
in  negotiating  the  loan  arose  from  the  fact  that  the  bankers 
who  had  been  principally  engaged  in  furnishing  money  to 
America,  had  also  become  purchasers  to  a  large  amount  of  the 
domestic  debt,  and  insisted  on  the  payment  of  the  interest 
on  this  debt  as  the  condition  of  their  taking  the  required  loan. 
There  being  no  authority  with  the  American  ministers  to 
make  such  an  agreement,  and  the  necessity  for  the  money 
being  urgent,  Mr.  Jefferson  was  induced  to  proceed  to  Am- 
sterdam, and  to  call  at  the  Hague,  for  the  sake  of  seeing 
Mr.  Adams  on  the  subject",  before  his  departure  for  America. 
The  two  ministers  succeeded  in  making  a  satisfactory  arrange- 
ment with  the  Dutch  bankers,  without  transcending  their  au- 
thority or  making  any  sacrifice,  by  which  the  means  of  paying 
the  interest  was  secured  for  the  years  1789  and  1790,  when  it 
was  expected  that  the  resources  of  the  government,  under  the 
new  constitution,  would  be  in  operation.  But  this  arrange- 
ment was  not  to  take  effect  until  it  was  ratified  by  Congress. 

Mr.  Jefferson  soon  afterwards  wrote  to  the  commissioners  of 
the  treasury  on  this  subject,  and  suggested,  that  if  their  neces- 
sities should  compel  them  to  comply  with  the  demands  of  the 
bankers  and  pay  the  interest  on  the  domestic  debt  before  they 
advanced  a  further  sum,  they  should  take  measures  to  prevent 
the  recurrence  of  the  same  difficulty  hereafter.  For,  as  he 
justly  remarked,  no  monied  man  would  give  96  per  cent,  for  the 
foreign  debt,  bearing  5  per  cent  interest,  when  he  could  pur- 
chase the  domestic  debt  for  55  per  cent,  bearing  6  per  cent 
interest  He,  therefore,  recommended  that  obstacles  should  be 
thrown  in  the  way  of  transferring  the  domestic  debt  to  Europe; 
to  effect  which  object,  he  suggested  that  the  title  to  the  debt, 
instead  of  existing  on  the  treasury  books,  as  the  foreign  debt 
did,  should  exist  only  on  separate  papers,  by  which  means  the 

VOL.  I.— 33 


258  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

European  holder  would  be  compelled  to  confide  to  his  American 
agent,  not  merely  his  interest,  as  in  case  of  the  foreign  debt,  but 
also  the  principal.  This  circumstance,  he  thought,  would  put 
a  stop  to  future  purchases  of  the  domestic  debt  in  that  market. 

In  speaking  of  this  transaction  with  the  bankers  of  Amster- 
dam, to  General  Washington,  he  says,  "much  conversation  with 
the  bankers,  brokers,  and  money  holders,  gave  me  insight  into 
the  state  of  national  credit  there,  which  I  had  never  before 
been  able  satisfactorily  to  get.  The  English  credit  is  the  first, 
because  they  never  open  a  loan,  without  laying  and  appropri- 
ating taxes  for  the  payment  of  the  interest,  and  there  has  never 
been  an  instance  of  their  failing  one  day  in  that  payment.  The 
emperor  and  empress  have  good  credit,  because  they  use  it  lit- 
tle, and  have  hitherto  been  very  punctual.  This  country 
(France)  is  among  the  lowest  in  point  of  credit.  Our's  stands 
in  hope  only.  They  consider  us  as  the  surest  nation  on  earth 
for  the  repayment  of  the  capital;  but  as  the  punctual  payment 
of  interest  is  of  absolute  necessity  in  their  arrangements,  we 
cannot  borrow  but  with  difficulty  and  disadvantage.  The  monied 
men,  however,  look  towards  our  new  government  with  a  great 
degree  of  partiality,  and  even  anxiety,  If  they  see  that  we  set 
out  on  the  English  plan,  the  first  degree  of  credit  will  be  trans- 
ferred to  us."  He  then  urges  the  advantage  of  transferring  the 
French  debt  to  Holland,  by  way  of  removing  the  causes  of 
bickering  and  irritation,  which  should  never  be  permitted  to 
subsist  with  a  nation  with  which  it  is  so  much  our  interest  to  be 
on  cordial  terms  as  with  France." 

This  business  being  completed,  he  left  Amsterdam  on  the 
30th  of  March,  and  returned  by  a  devious  course,  for  the  sake 
of  seeing  some  of  the  principal  towns  near  his  route.  He  reached 
Paris  on  the  23d  of  April,  much  satisfied  with  having  succeeded 
in  the  main  object  of  his  journey. 

The  situation  of  Captain  OBryan,  and  the  other  American 
captives  at  Algiers,  still  proved  to  him  a  subject  of  anxiety  and 
perplexity.  While  he  was  desirous  of  obtaining  their  release, 
he  also  wished,  with  the  very  straitened  means  which  his 
country  then  possessed,  to  effect  it  at  as  small  an  expense  as 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSOX.  259 

possible,  and  also  to  guard  against  the  exactions  which  the  cap- 
tors are  always  inclined  to  make.  It  seems  there  was  an  order 
of  monks,  the  Mathurins,  instituted  for  the  purpose  of  procuring 
the  ransom  of  Christian  captives  in  the  Barbary  states,  and  in 
a  conference  with  the  general  of  the  order  on  the  subject  of  the 
redemption  of  the  American  prisoners,  Mr.  Jefferson  learnt 
that  French  prisoners  had  been  redeemed  at  from  300  dollars 
to  400  dollars  each;  but  the  general  added,  that  he  could  expect 
to  redeem  the  Americans  at  that  rate  only,  by  concealing  that 
he  acted  under  the  authority  of  the  American  government.  It 
was  then  necessary  to  obtain  the  sanction  of  Congress,  and  to 
conceal  the  fact  from  the  Dey  of  Algiers,  and  even  to  impress  it 
on  his  mind  that  the  captives  were  abandoned  to  their  fate. 
OBryan  having  in  the  mean  while  been  informed  that  Mr. 
Jefferson  had  received  the  necessary  authority  to  obtain  their 
release,  and  regarding  him  as  indifferent  to  their  situation, 
addressed  to  him,  what  Mr.  Jefferson  calls  a  "cruel  letter."  Al- 
though the  imputation  was  necessarily  a  painful  one,  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson compelled  himself  to  submit  to  it,  because,  if  the  inten- 
tions of  the  government  in  their  behalf  were  communicated, 
they  would  not  be  able  to  keep  their  own  secret,  and  in  that 
case,  such  a  price  for  their  redemption  would  be  demanded  as 
Congress  would  think  they  ought  not  to  comply  with,  lest  it 
should  have  the  effect  of  making  many  others  of  our  citizens 
the  victims  of  piratical  rapacity,  and  thus,  humanity  to  a  few 
should  prove  cruelty  to  many. 

He  now  found  what  has  been  experienced  by  all  our  public 
ministers,  that  it  required  strict  economy  to  bring  his  expenses 
within  the  limits  of  the  moderate  salary  allowed  him;  and  that 
he  must  be  reduced  to  the  alternative  of  not  living  in  the  style 
expected  from  the  representative  of  a  foreign  nation,  or  of  draw- 
ing on  his  private  funds.  At  first,  it  had  been  the  practice  to 
pay  all  the  expenses  of  our  ministers,  and  to  allow  them  a 
moderate  salary  besides.  Then  they  were  allowed  a  stated 
salary  of  2500  guineas,  or  11111  j  dollars,  besides  the  outfit, 
which  comprehended  clothes,  household  furniture,  a  carriage 
and  horses.  And  finally,  in  1784,  the  salaries  were  reduced  to 


260  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

9000  dollars.  Mr.  Jefferson,  not  having  first  been  appointed  a 
resident  minister,  did  not  consider  he  was  entitled  to  an  outfit. 
But  after  he  was  appointed  Dr.  Franklin's  successor,  he  ex- 
pected to  receive  it,  or  that  the  expenses  it  had  been  intended 
to  defray  would  be  paid.  He  accordingly  begun  to  keep  an 
account  of  such  expenses,  but  finding  them  numerous,  minute, 
and  not  capable  of  being  vouched,  and  that,  moreover,  they 
would  exceed  a  year's  salary,  he  charged  that  sum  in  his  ac- 
counts, and  presumed  that  Congress  would  prefer  a  sum  cer- 
tain, and  would  make  his  case  a  precedent. 

He  represented  the  matter  very  fully  to  Mr.  Jay  and  Mr. 
Madison,  in  May,  1788,  and  relied  on  the  general  practice  of  all 
nations,  as  well  as  its  intrinsic  reasonableness,  in  support  of  his 
claim.  And  he  expressed  great  anxiety  to  have  the  matter 
settled  before  the  new  government  went  into  operation,  as  he 
did  not  wish  to  be  presented  to  it,  in  the  first  instance,  in  the 
character  of  a  suitor.  He,  at  the  same  time,  requested  them 
not  to  press  the  claim,  if  they  deemed  it  improper,  and  assured 
them  that  he  should  be  satisfied  with  their  decision. 

In  July,  he  conferred  with  the  Count  de  Montmorin,  minister 
for  foreign  affairs,  on  the  subject  of  the  articles  which  had  been 
prepared  between  France  and  the  United  States,  to  regulate 
the  rights  and  duties  of  their  respective  consuls,  according  to 
those  changes  which  had  been  desired  by  Congress.  As  some 
of  the  articles  were  contrary  to  the  genius  of  our  government 
and  civil  institutions,  and  the  subject  was  altogether  new  in 
America,  he  further  proposed  that  the  consular  convention 
should  be  limited  to  a  term  of  years. 

In  the  same  month,  he  received  a  letter  from  Gordon,  the 
historian  of  the  American  Revolution,  asking  his  good  offices  in 
getting  his  forth-coming  work  translated  into  French,  and  at 
the  same  time  inquiring  into  the  details  of  the  injuries  he  had 
suffered  from  Colonel  Tarleton,  during  his  invasion  in  Virginia. 
To  the  latter  request  he  answered,  that  he  had  no  cause  to 
complain  of  Colonel  Tarleton,  as  his  property  had  been  respect- 
ed by  the  officer  who  had  been  despatched  to  Monticello.  But 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  261 

he  gives  the  details  of  the  injuries  done  to  his  property  on  an- 
other estate,  near  the  Point  of  Fork,  and  which  having  taken 
place  under  the  eye  of  Lord  Cornwallis,  he  presumes  were 
committed  with  his  approbation. 

Amidst  his  official  duties,  and  his  speculations  on  the  great 
political  changes  which  were  going  on  both  in  France  and 
America,  he  still  took  his  wonted  interest  in  physical  science, 
and  with  few  exceptions,  welcomed  every  novelty  that  obtained 
celebrity,  or  exhibited  ingenuity.  He  communicated  to  the  Rev. 
James  Madison,  then  the  president  of  William  and  Mary  college, 
and  afterwards  the  bishop  of  Virginia,  all  which  at  that  time  in- 
terested the  savans  of  Paris.  He  informs  his  correspondent,among 
other  things,  that  an  Abbe  there  had  "shaken,  if  not  destroyed, 
Newton's  theory  of  the  rainbow;"  and  denies  the  fact,  that  the 
spectator's  eye  is  equidistant  from  every  part  of  the  bow,  to 
which  proposition  Mr.  Jefferson  assents.  He  withholds  his  dis- 
sent from  the  conversion  and  reconversion  of  water  and  air;  and 
he  states,  that  in  a  conversation  with  Buffon,  on  the  present 
ardour  of  chemical  inquiry,  he  affected  to  regard  chemistry 
only  as  cookery,  and  to  place  the  toils  of  the  laboratory  on  a 
footing  with  those  in  the  kitchen.  Mr.  Jefferson's  own  views 
did  more  justice  to  that  useful  science,  which  he  regarded  "as 
big  with  future  discoveries  for  the  utility  and  safety  of  the 
human  race;"  though  he  little  thought  that  its  advancement 
would  be  so  rapid  as  it  has  since  proved.  The  attempt  of  La- 
voisier to  reform  the  chemical  nomenclature,  he  thought  to  be 
"premature."  He  notices  the  fulminating  powder,  and  the 
spathic  (fluoric)  acid;  and  mentions  a  report  from  Naples,  that 
seventeen  of  the  lost  books  of  Livy  had  been  recovered  in  an 
Arabic  translation  of  them,  which  he  hopes  may  be  true. 

It  may  be  here  remarked,  that  the  interest  which  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son took  in  the  advancement  of  science,  made  him  somewhat 
credulous  as  to  its  discoveries,  its  vaunted  improvements,  and 
its  splendid  promises  of  future  benefit,  of  which  we  have  some 
examples  in  the  preceding  letter — as  in  the  supposed  refutation 
of  the  Newtonian  theory  of  the  rainbow,  and  of  the  discovery 
of  the  lost  books  of  Livy;  and  in  a  letter  to  another  friend  about 


262  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

this  time,  he  says,  that  he  sees  nothing  impossible  in  the  conjec- 
ture of  some  American  philosopher,  that  the  Creek  Indians  are 
descended  from  the  Carthagenians,  supposed  to  have  been  sepa- 
rated from  Hanno's  fleet,  arid  he  expresses  a  desire  to  have  their 
language  compared  with  that  of  the  Carthagenians,  which  was 
supposed  to  be  still  spoken  in  the  mountainous  part  of  Barbary. 
Of  the  same  character  too  was  his  disposition  to  refer  the 
irregularity  of  the  strata  of  the  earth  to  the  property  which 
rocks  have  of  growing  like  vegetables,  rather  than  to  ex- 
plain the  phenomenon  by  subterraneous  explosions  or  convul- 
sions. He  was  also," at  the  time  he  wrote  his  notes,  evidently 
inclined  to  credit  the  Indian  tradition,  that  the  mammoth  still 
existed  in  the  interior  of  this  continent;  and  at  a  much  later 
period,  he  was  thought  to  have  given  evidence  of  a  too  easy 
faith  in  supposing  the  existence  of  a  "salt  mountain."  Yet,  on 
other  occasions,  he  seemed  to  go  to  the  other  extreme,  and 
refuse  his  assent  to  what  had  obtained  general  credit.  But  in 
truth,  it  is  the  same  disposition  of  mind  which  is  too  easy  of 
belief  at  one  time  and  incredulous  at  another;  both  being  cases 
of  judgments  formed  in  haste,  or  under  strong  biasses.  And 
thus  the  theories  which  were  recommended  to  Mr.  Jefferson's 
imagination  by  their  promises  of  utility  to  mankind,  to  which 
he  always  manifested  lively  sensibility,  he  was  too  much  inclined 
to  believe,  whilst  those  which  were  opposed  to  his  national  or 
personal  prejudices,  he  as  readily  discredited. 

About  this  time,  a  person  called  on  him  and  stated,  that  Silas 
Deane  owed  him  one  hundred  and  twenty  guineas,  and  being 
unable  to  obtain  payment,  he  had  laid  hands  on  his  account  book 
and  letter  book  which  he  had  brought  to  Paris,  to  offer  to  the 
American  government;  and  that,  if  it  refused,  he  meant  to  offer 
them  to  the  British  minister.  Mr.  Jefferson  requested  him  to 
leave  them  twenty-four  hours,  which  he  did.  During  this  time, 
he  took  a  note  of  the  dates  and  addresses  of  the  letters,  and  had 
that  part  of  his  accounts,  which  was  subsequent  to  his  arrival  in 
Philadelphia,  in  1778,  transcribed.  He  did  not  think  them  of 
sufficient  importance  to  give  the  sum  demanded,  without  au- 
thority; though  he  thought  it  would  be  better  to  purchase  them, 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  263 

than  that  they  should  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  British  minis- 
ter. The  individual  was  told  by  Mr.  Jefferson  that  he  would 
write  to  the  government  with  orders  on  the  subject;  but  he 
returned  to  London  with  them,  without  making  any  engage- 
ment. 

The  insufficiency  of  our  national  revenue  subjected,  as  we 
have  seen,  our  fiscal  agents  abroad  to  frequent  embarrassment 
and  mortification,  of  which  fact  Mr.  Jefferson's  correspondence 
affords  abundant  evidence.  He  was  particularly  earnest  in 
recommending  to  persons  in  authority  in  America,  to  make  an 
adequate  provision  for  the  payment  of  the  pensions  and  other 
sums  due  ,<ro  French  officers,  whose  complaints,  when  disappoint- 
ed, would  be  more  heard  than  those  of  the  money  lenders,  both 
by  reason  of  their  greater  numbers,  and  because  they  could  less 
bear  the  inconveniences  of  delay.  But  those  to  whom  he  ad- 
dressed himself,  had  their  full  share  of  difficulties  in  money  mat- 
ters, and  his  representations  were  of  necessity  without  effect. 
In  this  state  of  things,  he  received  a  letter  in  September  from 
the  Marquis  de  Rouerie,  who  had  served  in  America,  complain- 
ing of  the  want  of  punctuality  in  paying  the  arrears  due  to 
him;  and  in  consequence  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  having  inofficially 
consented  to  call  the  attention  of  the  treasury  board  to  such 
claims,  and  having  further  expressed  his  expectation,  that  the 
money  would  probably  be  paid  in  July,  he  wrote  to  demand 
immediately  payment  of  the  minister.  To  this  demand  Mr. 
Jefferson  replied  with  proper  spirit,  that  the  business  of  paying 
the  foreign  officers  constituted  no  part  of  his  duties;  that  he  had 
voluntarily  written  to  the  treasury  board  on  the  subject,  and 
had  stated  his  impressions  that  they  would  give  the  requisite 
orders;  but  that  he  had  made  no  promise,  nor  had  a  right  to 
make  any;  and  that  as  his  friendly  interposition  was  misunder- 
stood, he  desired  that  all  further  correspondence  between  them 
should  cease. 

We  are  strongly  impressed  with  the  poverty  of  the  federal 
treasury,  and  the  imbecility  of  the  federal  government,  when 
we  recollect,  that  the  national  character  was  thus  subjected 


264  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

to  the  reproach  both  of  bad  faith  and  ingratitude,  for  an  annual 
sum  of  less  than  ten  thousand  dollars. 

A  mercantile  house  of  Paris,  Schweighauser  and  Dobrie, 
having  had  some  arms  of  the  United  States  attached,  on  the 
ground  of  debt  due  to  them,  Mr.  Jefferson  proposed,  in  behalf 
of  his  government,  that  the  affair  should  be  left  to  arbitration; 
but  they  refused  his  offer,  by  the  advice  of  their  counsel,  upon 
which  the  minister  applied  to  Monsieur  Montmorin,  and  insisted 
that  the  articles  should  be  given  up,  on  the  ground  that  the 
seizure  of  the  goods  of  one  sovereign  in  the  dominions  of  another 
was  contrary  to  the  law  of  nations.  This  order  was  accordingly 
made,  after  which  he  again  tendered  the  same  proposition  to 
the  merchants,  to  which  they  finally  acceeded. 

But  his  most  important  official  act  this  year,  was  an  elabo- 
rate memoir  on  the  subject  of  the  admission  of  American  whale 
oils  into  France,  in  which  he  stated,  with  great  clearness  and 
precision,  the  advantage  which  this  measure  would  confer  on 
both  countries:  and  answered  all  the  objections  which  a  wish 
on  the  part  of  France  to  foster  her  own  commerce  and  naviga- 
tion, or  her  jealousy  of  Great  Britain,  could  suggest.  This  me- 
moir was  so  far  successful,  that  the  United  States  were  relieved 
from  the  general  prohibition  which  had  been  previously  decreed. 
The  paper  shows  an  acquaintance  with  the  details  of  the  sub- 
ject which  he  could  not  have  been  expected  to  possess,  and 
although  the  facts  were,  without  doubt,  furnished  by  his  cor- 
respondents in  New  England,  yet  it  was  not  the  less  creditable 
to  him  to  have  given  so  thorough  an  attention  to  the  subject, 
and  to  have  digested  the  information  he  received  in  so  satisfac- 
tory a  way,  as  to  have  made  his  views  at  once  clear  and  con- 
vincing. 

He  enters  into  minute  details  and  estimates  for  the  purpose 
of  showing  that  the  whale  fishery  could  not  be  prosecuted  with 
advantage  by  France,  and  that  as  she  must  receive  her  chief 
supply  of  fish  oil  from  either  Great  Britain  or  the  United  States, 
every  consideration  of  national  policy  should  induce  her  to 
prefer  them  to  her  great  rival. 

The  circumstances  which  induced  him  to  write  this  letter  to 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  265 

Monsieur  Montmorin,  he  thus  states  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Jay,  of 
November  the  19th.  "The  English  had  glutted  the  markets 
of  this  country  with  their  oils:  it  was  proposed  to  exclude  them, 
and  an  arret  was  drawn,  with  an  exception  for  us:  in  the  last 
stage  of  the  arret,  the  exception  was  struck  out,  without  my 
having  any  warning,  or  even  suspicion  of  .this.  I  suspect  this 
stroke  came  from  the  Count  de  la  Luzerne,  minister  of  marine; 
but  I  cannot  affirm  it  positively.  As  soon  as  I  was  apprized  of 
this,  which  was  several  days  after  it  passed  (because  it  was 
kept  secret  till  published  in  their  seaports,)  I  wrote  to  the 
Count  de  Montmorin  a  letter,  of  which  the  inclosed  is  a  copy, 
and  had  conferences  on  the  subject,  from  time  to  time,  with  him 
and  the  other  ministers.  I  found  them  prepossessed  by  the  par- 
tial information  of  their  Dunkirk  fishermen;  and,  therefore, 
thought  it  necessary  to  give  them  a  view  of  the  whole  subject 
in  writing,  which  I  did,  in  the  piece  of  which  I  inclose  you  a 
printed  copy.  I  therein  entered  into  more  details  than  the 
question  between  us  seemed  rigorously  to  require.  I  was  led 
to  them  by  other  objects.  The  most  important  was,  to  disgust 
Mr.  Neckar,  as  an  economist,  against  their  new  fishery,  by  let- 
ting him  foresee  its  expense.  The  particular  manufactures 
suggested  to  them,  were  in  consequence  of  repeated  applications 
from  the  shippers  of  rice  and  tobacco:  other  details,  which  do 
not  appear  immediately  pertinent,  were  occasioned  by  circum- 
stances which  had  arisen  in  conversation,  or  an  apparent  neces- 
sity of  giving  information  on  the  whole  matter.  At  a  conference, 
in  the  presence  of  M.  Lambert,  on  the  16th,  (where  I  was  ably 
aided  by  the  Marquis  de  La  Fayette,  as  I  have  been  through 
the  whole  business,)  it  was  agreed  to  except  us  from  the  prohi- 
bition. But  they  will  require  rigorous  assurance,  that  the  oils 
coming  under  our  name  are  really  of  our  fishery.  They  fear 
we  shall  cover  the  introduction  of  the  English  oils  from  Hali- 
fax." 

In  adverting  to  this  subject,  in  a  letter  to  General  Washing- 
ton, soon  afterwards,  he  says,  "whenever  the  French  shall 
be  at  war  with  England,  they  must  open  the  trade  of  their 
West  India  Islands  to  us,  and  perhaps  during  the  war  they  may 

VOL.  I.— 34 


266  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

see  some  price  which  might  make  them  agree  to  keep  them 
always  open."  In  the  meanwhile,  he  endeavoured  to  open  the 
market  of  France  for  our  produce,  and  render  its  transporta- 
tions a  nursery  to  our  seamen,  since  a  maritime  force  was  the 
only  one  by  which  we  could  act  on  Europe:  and  inasmuch  as 
our  exports  are  bulky,  he  suggests  that  our  navigation  law,  if 
we  had  any,  should  be  the  reverse  of  that  of  England,  and 
instead  of  "confining  our  importations  to  home  bottoms,  or  those 
of  the  producing  nations,  we  should  confine  our  expectations  to 
home  bottoms,  or  to  those  of  nations  having  treaties  with  us." 

In  November,  of  this  year,  he  asked  leave  of  Congress  to 
return  to  America  in  the  summer  of  the  following  year,  partly 
to  attend  to  his  private  affairs,  which  could  be  managed  by  no 
one  but  himself,  but  principally  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  his 
daughter  back  to  her  country  and  friends.  His  purpose  then 
was  to  return  to  France,  after  an  absence  of  five  months,  which 
would  allow  him  three  months  to  be  at  sea,  and  two  months  to 
be  at  home.  In  favour  of  his  application  he  pleads  that  he  was 
first  appointed  for  two  years,  but  had  been  absent  twice  as  long; 
and  that  he  had  left  America  without  first  going  home  to  make 
any  arrangements  in  his  private  affairs:  and  on  referring  to  all 
the  business  confided  to  him,  he  shows  that  no  part  of  that 
which  was  unfinished,  or  would  remain  so,  could  suffer  by  his 
absence.  He  proposes  that  Mr.  Short,  of  whose  talents  and 
character  he  speaks  highly,  should  be  left  Charge  d'Affaires  in 
his  absence. 

It  appears  by  his  letter  to  General  Washington,  in  December, 
that  he  was  better  reconciled  to  the  new  constitution,  though 
he  still  hoped  that  a  bill  of  rights  would  be  annexed  to  it,  and 
that  this  might  be  added  by  way  .of  amendment,  without  put- 
ting all  to  hazard  by  a  new  convention. 

He  considers,  that  the  United  States  will  hereafter  be  exposed 
to  war  by  "the  tyranny"  of  those  European  nations  who  have 
colonies  in  America,  and  who  deprive  us  of  the  natural  right  of 
trading  with  our  neighbours;  that  our  native  products  would  soon 
exceed  the  European  demand,  and  that  we  should  open  a  market 
by  force  for  the  surplus,  "with  those  placed  on  the  same  conti- 
nent with  us,  and  who  wish  for  nothing  better."  It  does  not 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  267 

appear  whether  his  views  were  limited  to  Canada  and  the 
West  Indies,  or  were  extended  to  Spanish  and  Portuguese 
America.  But  there  was  another  alternative  to  which  he 
might  have  looked  forward  with  equal  confidence,  which  is 
this:  whenever  labour  devoted  to  agricultural  products  shall 
find  itself  uncompensated,  in  consequence  of  a  fall  in  price  from 
a  redundant  supply,  a  part  of  it  will  be  diverted  to  the  fabrica- 
tion of  some  of  those  foreign  articles  for  which  raw  produce  had 
been  previously  exchanged.  Mr.  Jefferson  lived  long  enough  to 
see  much  of  this  diversion  of  labour  in  the  middle  states;  but  it 
was  little  to  what  would  have  been  seen,  if  our  agriculturists 
had  not  found  in  cotton  a  new  article  of  profitable  culture. 

Let  us  now  turn  our  attention  to  the  progress  of  that  Revo- 
lution which  already  began  to  be  manifest  to  the  most  careless 
observer.  The  expedient  which  the  administration  had  resorted 
to,  of  consulting  the  principal  men  of  the  nation  on  its  difficul- 
ties, had  proved  altogether  inadequate  to  the  occasion.  They 
had  suggested  various  minor  reforms  and  retrenchments,  some 
of  which  were  evaded  or  imperfectly  executed,  and  the  whole 
of  which  were  insufficient  to  restore  national  credit,  and  conse- 
quently to  silence  the  complaints  of  the  public  creditors.  In 
the  evident  failure  of  this  experiment,  it  was  necessary  to  resort 
to  some  other  expedient,  and  nothing  appeared  capable  of 
applying  a  remedy  commensurate  with  the  disease,  but  to  call 
together  the  states-general,  who,  in  the  capacity  of  representa- 
tives of  the  whole  nation,  and  of  the  counsellors  of  the  crown, 
might  alone  be  able  to  carry  into  effect  such  scheme  of  reform 
as  they  should  adopt.  Besides,  as  nothing  less  than  a  general 
contribution  to  the  revenue  by  the  nobility  and  clergy,  as  well 
as  the  tiers  etat,  would  satisfy  the  nation,  the  support  of  the 
representatives  of  the  people  was  necessary  to  secure  the  adop- 
tion of  this  measure.  Many  motives  concurred  to  make  this 
expedient  popular  with  the  nation.  All  those  who  had  been 
influenced  by  their  speculative  views  on  government  to  wish 
for  an  extension  of  civil  liberty  in  France,  were  pleased  to  see 
an  assembly  about  to  meet,  which  already  had  some  of  the 
essential  features  of  a  representative  body,  and  which  might  at 


268  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

any  rate  be  easily  improved  into  one.  Those  who  admired  the 
English  government  saw  in  this  assembly  a  future  parliament 
in  embryo,  and  flattered  themselves  that,  by  opening  the  purse 
strings  of  the  nation  to  the  necessities  of  the  government,  they 
would  be  able  to  effect  an  extension  of  the  nation's  rights.  In 
the  intercourse  which  had  been  so  augmented  between  France 
and  England  of  late  years,  they  had  opportunities  of  seeing  the 
advantages  which  Great  Britain  derived  from  her  navigation 
and  commerce;  her  numerous  colonies;  her  flourishing  manufac- 
tures; and  these  solid  benefits  they  would  naturally  ascribe  to 
the  respectability  of  the  tiers  etat,  the  equality  of  civil  rights, 
and  the  sacredness  of  property  which  there  prevailed.  The 
freedom  of  debate,  and  of  the  press,  which  they  also  witnessed 
in  that  country,  though  often  offending  the  fastidiousness  and 
loyalty  of  Frenchmen,  had  much  in  it  that  was  imposing  to  the 
imagination;  and  assimilated  the  English  people,  in  many  points 
of  character,  to  the  classic  models  of  antiquity.  The  love  of 
change  itself  will  always  have  its  influence  on  many,  either 
because  they  hope  to  profit  by  it,  or  because  it  will  relieve 
them  from  the  languor  of  idleness  or  sameness.  The  adminis- 
tration, being  able  to  devise  no  better  expedient,  and  finding 
some  change  indispensable,  acquiesced  in  this  measure;  and 
either  not  perceiving  its  danger,  or  fondly  confiding  in  their 
ability  to  overcome  it,  they  looked  forward  to  it  with  hope 
rather  than  apprehension. 

When  Mr.  Jefferson  returned  from  his  visit  to  Holland,  in 
April,  he  found  Paris  as  he  had  left  it,  in  a  state  of  high  fer- 
mentation. He  thought  that  if  the  Archbishop  of  Sens  had 
immediately  adopted  the  retrenchments  and  plans  of  reform 
which  the  notables  had  recommended,  they  would  all  have 
been  registered  by  the  Parliament  of  Paris,  and  that  cause  of 
civil  commotion  would  not  have  existed.  But  as  the  edicts  he 
prepared  were  presented  slowly,  and  in  succession,  there  was 
time  for  new  claims  to  be  set  up  as  men's  minds  became 
familiarized  to  the  old,  until  they  finally  settled  down  on  the 
necessity  of  a  fixed  constitution,  which  would  be  independent 
of  the  will  of  the  monarch.  It  must,  moreover,  be  confessed 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  269 

that  by  the  ordinary  operation  of  the  government,  they  were 
daily  reminded  of  evils  to  which  no  length  of  usage  or  prescrip- 
tion could  reconcile  them  at  the  present  day,  and  which  would 
be  more  felt  now  that  their  thoughts  had  been  turned  to  the 
subject  of  civil  government,  and  when  popular  rights  appeared 
in  a  more  attractive  form,  and  arbitrary  power  more  odious  than 
they  had  ever  before  been  exhibited  to  the  eyes  of  Frenchmen. 
The  unjust  system  of  taxation,  the  restraints  in  the  freedom  of 
conscience,  and  of  the  press,  the  extravagance  of  the  govern- 
ment, the  insolence  of  the  noblesse,  the  money  thus  hardly 
wrung  from  the  earning  of  industry  and  skill,  lavished  on  worth- 
less favourites  and  pensioners,  now  seen  and  understood  by  the 
mass  of  the  people,  rendered  it  impossible  for  the  public  mind 
to  settle  down  satisfied  with  the  first  concession,  which  the  pru- 
dence or  timidity  of  their  rulers  had  yielded  to  the  demands  of 
the  people. 

Encouraged  by  the  open  discontents  of  the  nation,  the  Par- 
liament refused  to  register  those  edicts  which  created  the  most 
unpopular  taxes,  especially  the  stamp  tax,  and  proposed  a 
meeting  of  the  states-general,  as  alone  competent  to  the  emer- 
gency. The  administration,  thereupon,  determined  upon  what 
is  called  a  bed  of  justice,  in  which  the  king's  presence  was  ex- 
pected to  overrule  the  opposition  of  the  Parliament.  The  edicts 
were  duly  registered,  according  to  ancient  usage;  but  new  dif- 
ficulties then  arose,  which  frustrated  their  execution.  The 
Parliament  itself,  by  way  of  atoning  for  its  reluctant  support  of 
the  crown,  sent  a  bold  remonstrance  to  the  king,  in  which  they 
ventured  to  deny  the  legality  of  the  recent  edicts,  and  even  to 
declare,  that  the  states-general  alone  had  the  power  of  perma- 
nent taxation.  The  provincial  parliaments  maintained  the 
same  doctrines,  and  the  Chamber  of  Accounts  and  Court  of 
Aids  refused  to  enforce  them.  The  refractory  Parliament 
was  banished  to  Troyes,  a  distance  of  seventy  miles  from  Paris. 
But  no  longer  supported  by  the  popular  voice,  and  their  merits 
and  sacrifices  being  not  likely  to  be  much  better  remembered 
by  the  people  than  they  had  been  respected  by  the  govern- 
ment, they  came  to  a  compromise  with  the  minister,  and  on 


270  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

their  consenting  to  continue  some  of  the  former  taxes,  they  were 
recalled  from  their  exile.  The  king  met  them  in  November, 
1787,  in  what  is  called  a  royal  sitting,  promised  to  call  the 
states-general  in  1792,  and  a  majority  of  them  consented  to 
register  an  edict  for  several  annual  loans,  amounting  to  eighty- 
four  millions,  until  the  proposed  meeting  of  the  states-general. 
But  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  who  had  now  sided  with  the  popular 
party,  having  entered  a  protest  against  the  edict,  and  some  of 
the  majority  retracting  their  consent,  the  king  peremptorily 
ordered  the  registry,  and  closed  the  sitting.  The  Parliament 
then  entered  a  protest  against  the  legality  of  the  loans,  which 
had  the  effect  of  defeating  them.  The  consequence  was,  that 
two  members  of  the  Parliament  were  imprisoned,  the  Duke  of 
Orleans  was  exiled  to  his  estate,  and  a  Cour  Pleniere,  composed 
of  the  principal  persons  in  the  kingdom,  was  called,  by  the  aid 
of  which  it  was  meant  to  supersede  the  functions  of  the  Parlia- 
ment, except  those  that  were  strictly  judicial.  This  course 
being  more  fit  for  furthering  the  views  of  the  government  than 
for  fulfilling  the  wishes  of  the  people,  was  vehemently  opposed 
by  all  the  Parliament,  who  again  were  backed  by  the  mass  of 
the  nation.  The  government  found  itself  forced  to  give  way; 
and  the  king,  by  an  edict  of  July  5th,  revoked  the  order  for  the 
Cour  Pleniere,  and  promised  to  call  the  states-general  in  the 
first  of  May  following.  The  archbishop,  retreating  from  the 
storm  in  September,  betook  himself  to  Italy,  and  Neckar 
was  once  more  placed  at  the  head  of  the  finances.  The  exul- 
tation at  this  victory  and  the  prospect  of  future  benefits  ex- 
cited the  national  joy  to  the  highest  pitch;  and  their  public 
rejoicings  being  interrupted  by  the  city-guard,  several  succes- 
sive rencounters  ensued  between  the  people  and  the  military, 
in  which  ten  or  twelve  of  the  citizens  and  a  few  of  the  guard 
lost  their  lives.  The  city  was  then  put  under  martial  law,  and 
in  a  short  time  order  was  restored. 

After  the  convocation  of  the  states-general  was  determined 
on,  two  most  important  questions  arose,  1st.  What  proportion 
should  the  deputies  of  the  tiers  etat  bear  to  those  of  the  nobles 
and  clergy?  And  2ndly.  Should  the  nobles,  clergy  and  third 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  271 

estate  sit  in  several  chambers,  or  sit  and  vote  as  one  body? 
The  questions  were  referred  by  Neckar  to  the  Notables,  who 
were  called  together  a  second  time  to  decide  them.  They  met 
on  the  9th  of  November,  and,  by  a  large  majority,  recommended 
the  forms  which  had  been  observed  in  1614,  when  the  states- 
general  met  in  separate  chambers.  But  the  voice  of  the  nation 
was  so  general  and  so  loud  in  favour  of  their  making  one  body, 
and  that  the  tiers  etat  should  equal  the  other  two  orders,  that 
the  latter  point  was  so  determined  by  a  declaration  of  Decem- 
ber 27th.  A  report  from  Neckar,  about  the  same  time,  made 
the  following  concessions  to  the  popular  party.  1.  That  the  king 
should  neither  lay  a  new  tax,  nor  prolong  an  old  one.  2.  It  pro- 
fessed a  readiness  to  agree  upon  a  periodical  meeting  of  the 
states-general;  3.  to  consult  on  the  necessary  restriction  of  Lettres 
de  Cachet;  4.  to  extend  the  liberty  of  the  press;  5.  that  the 
stages  should  appropriate  the  public  money;  6.  that  ministers 
should  be  responsible  for  public  expenditures. 

While  the  nation  was  in  this  state  of  feverish  expectation  on 
this  subject  of  its  political  rights,  there  was  a  scarcity  of  bread 
in  the  country,  owing  to  the  destructive  hail  storms  of  the  pre- 
ceding summer,  and  a  winter  whose  severity  was  beyond  all 
example.  The  government,  with  its  exhausted  treasury,  was 
compelled  to  expend  large  sums  for  the  mitigation  of  these  dis- 
tresses in  Paris.  It  had  great  fires  built  in  the  cross  streets,  at 
which  the  people  warmed  themselves,  to  avoid  perishing  with 
cold.  Bread  was  bought  and  distributed  daily  among  the  la- 
bouring class.  <%So  great,"  says  Mr.  Jefferson,  "was  its  scarcity, 
that  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest  citizen,  the  bakers  were 
permitted  to  deal  but  a  scanty  allowance  per  head,  even  to 
those  who  paid  for  it;  and  in  cards  of  invitation  to  dine  in  the 
richest  houses,  the  guest  was  notified  to  bring  his  own  bread." 
This  scarcity  having  been  foreseen  by  the  government,  De 
Montmorin  had  requested  Mr.  Jefferson  to  give  information  of 
it  in  the  United  States,  and  promised  that  a  bounty  should  be 
given  on  their  grain  imported  into  France. 

This  state  of  things  had  produced  some  popular  disturbances 
in  the  interior  of  the  kingdom,  but  none  in  Paris,  where  it  seem- 


212  THE  LIFE  01'  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

ed  as  if  the  attention  of  all  classes  was  so  absorbed  by  the  one 
object,  the  meeting  of  the  states-general,  and  so  confidently 
looked  to  that  for  relief  from  every  suffering,  that  all  present 
ills  were  borne  in  patience.  Mr.  Jefferson  thus  describes  the  sud- 
den alteration  of  character  that  had  now  taken  place  among  the 
people  of  France,  in  a  letter  to  Colonel  Humphreys,  dated  the 
18th  of  March,  1789.  "The  change  in  this  country  since  you 
left  it,  is  such  as  you  can  form  no  idea  of.  The  frivolities  of 
conversation  have  given  way  entirely  to  politics.  Men,  women 
and  children  talk  nothing  else:  and  all,  you  know,  talk  a  great 
deal.  The  press  groans  with  daily  productions,  which,  in  point 
of  boldness,  makes  an  Englishman  stare,  who  hitherto  has  thought 
himself  the  boldest  of  men.  A  complete  revolution  in  this  go- 
vernment has,  within  the  space  of  two  years  (for  it  began  with 
the  Notables  of  1787,)  been  effected  merely  by  the  force  of 
public  opinion,  aided  indeed  by  the  want  of  money,  which  the 
dissipations  of  the  court  had  brought  on.  And  this  revolution 
has  not  cost  a-  single  life,  unless  we  charge  to  it  a  little  riot 
lately  in  Bretagne,  which  began  about  the  price  of  bread, 
became  afterwards  political,  and  ended  in  the  loss  of  four  or 
five  lives." 

If  foreign  officers  sometimes  had  cause  to  complain  of  the 
United  States,  it  must  also  be  confessed  that  the  former  occa- 
sionally magnified  their  services,  and  overrated  their  claims  to 
remuneration.  A  remarkable  instance  of  this  occurred  in  the 
case  of  a  Monsieur  Klein,  who  asked  compensation  for  public 
services  rendered  to  the  United  States  during  the  war,  and  who 
prevailed  on  Madame  Neckar  to  espouse  his  cause.  According 
to  Mr.  Jefferson,  he  and  two  other  Germans,  in  the  year  1788, 
proposed  to  enlist  a  body  of  men  from  among  the  German  pri- 
soners, taken  with  General  Burgoyne  at  Saratoga,  on  condition 
that  Klein  should  be  lieutenant-colonel,  and  his  two  associates 
captains  in  the  American  service:  they  were  allowed  three 
months  to  do  this.  At  the  end  of  ten  months  they  had  enlisted 
twenty-four  men,  and  all  of  these,  except  five,  had  deserted. 
Congress,  therefore,  put  an  end  to  the  project  in  June,  1779, 
by  informing  Monsieur  Klein  they  had  no  further  use  for  his 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  273 

services,  and  giving  him  a  year's  pay  and  subsistence  to  bring 
him  to  Europe.  He,  however,  stayed  three  years  and  a  half, 
as  he  says,  to  solicit  what  was  due  him;  but  Mr.  Jefferson 
presumes,  "in  hopes  of  finding  some  opening  for  further  employ- 
ment." Madame  Neckar  is  further  told,  that  if  he  has  not  a 
certificate  of  what  was  allowed  him,  he  must  have  received  the 
money,  and  if  he  has  the  certificates,  Mr.  Jefferson  will  represent 
his  claims,  and  will  ensure  its  meeting  with  justice;  and  lastly, 
that  his  object  is  to  be  received  into  the  Hospital  of  Invalids, 
and  having  no  just  title  to  admission,  wishes  to  found  a  claim  on 
his  American  commission  and  American  grievances. 


VOL.  I.— 35 


274 


CHAPTER  XII. 


Further  opinions  on  the  Federal  Constitution.  Mr.  Madison's  and  Mr. 
Jefferson's  respective  views  on  Declarations  of  Rights.  Discoveries 
and  improvements  in  Science.  Progress  of  the  French  Revolution. 
Mr.  Jefferson  submits  a  Bill  of  Rights  to  La  Fayette.  Visits  Ver- 
sailles almost  daily.  Connexion  of  Lake  Erie  with  the  Ohio.  Views 
of  the  French  Revolution.  Titular  distinctions  in  the  United  States. 
The  doctrine  that  one  generation  cannot  bind  another.  Mr.  Madi- 
son's views  on  this  subject.  Further  objections  to  the  doctrine.  State 
of  parties  in  Paris.  His  mode  of  passing  his  time  there.  Leaves 
France.  Stops  at  the  Isle  of  Wight.  Arrival  at  Norfolk.  His  pa- 
pers narrowly  escape  conflagration.  Return  to  Monticello.  Recep- 
tion by  his  slaves.  Appointed  Secretary  of  Slate.  Marriage  of  his 
eldest  daughter.  Sets  out  for  New  York.  Interview  with  Dr.  Frank- 
lin. 

1789-1790. 

IN  March  of  that  year,  about  the  time  that  the  new  consti- 
tution of  the  United  States  was  about  to  be  subjected  to  the 
test  of  experiment,  Mr.  Jefferson  gave  a  full  exposition  of  his 
views  of  it  in  a  letter  to  Judge  Hopkinson,  of  Pennsylvania.  It 
seems  that  the  judge  had  written  to  Mr.  Jefferson  that  he  was 
regarded  as  an  anti-federalist,  as  the  opposers  of  the  constitution 
were  now  denominated.  Mr.  Jefferson  thus  states  how  far  he 
agreed  with  the  two  parties:  "I  am  not  a  federalist,  because  I 
never  submitted  the  whole  system  of  my  opinions  to  the  creed 
of  any  party  of  men  whatever,  in  religion,  in  philosophy,  in 
politics,  or  in  any  thing  else,  where  I  was  capable  of  thinking 
for  myself.  Such  an  addiction  is  the  last  degradation  of  a  free 
and  moral  agent.  If  I  could  not  go  to  heaven  without  a  party, 
I  would  not  go  there  at  all.  Therefore,  I  protest  to  you,  I  am 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  275 

not  of  the  party  of  federalists.  But  I  am  much  farther  from 
that  of  the  anti-federalists.  I  approved,  from  the  first  moment, 
of  the  great  mass  of  what  is  in  the  new  constitution:  the  consolida- 
tion of  the  government;  the  organization  into  executive,  legisla- 
tive and  judiciary;  the  subdivision  of  the  legislative;  the  happy 
compromise  of  interests  between  the  great  and  little  states,  by 
the  different  manner  of  voting  in  the  different  houses;  the  voting 
by  persons  instead  of  states;  the  qualified  negative  on  laws  given 
to  the  executive;  which,  however,  I  should  have  liked  better  if 
associated  with  the  judiciary  also,  as  in  New  York;  and  the 
power  of  taxation.  I  thought,  at  first,  that  the  latter  might 
have  been  limited.  A  little  reflection  soon  convinced  me  it 
ought  not  to  be.  What  I  disapproved  from  the  first  moment 
also,  was  the  want  of  a  bill  of  rights,  to  guard  liberty  against 
the  legislative,  as  well  as  executive  branches  of  government: 
that  is  to  say,  to  secure  freedom  in  religion;  freedom  of  the 
press;  freedom  from  monopolies;  freedom  from  unlawful  imprison- 
ment; freedom  from  a  permanent  military,  and  a  trial  by  jury, 
in  all  cases  determinable  by  the  laws  of  the  land.  I  disapproved 
also  the  perpetual  re-eligibility  of  the  president.  To  these 
points  of  disapprobation  I  adhere."  He  then  states,  that  al- 
though he  had  wished  that  the  nine  first  conventions  might 
accept  the  constitution,  as  that  number  was  sufficient  for  it  to 
go  into  operation,  and  the  four  last  reject  it,  as  the  means  of 
obtaining  amendments,  yet  he  rather  preferred  the  plan  pur- 
sued by  Massachusetts,  which  adopted  the  constitution,  and  at 
the  same  time  recommended  amendments. 

On  the  subject  of  the  re-eligibility  of  the  president,  he  says: 
"since  the  thing  is  established,  I  would  wish  it  not  to  be  altered 
during  the  life  of  our  great  leader,  whose  executive  talents  are 
superior  to  those,  I  believe,  of  any  man  in  the  world,  and  who, 
alone,  by  the  authority  of  his  name,  and  the  confidence  reposed 
in  his  perfect  integrity,  is  fully  qualified  to  put  the  new  govern- 
ment so  under,  way,  as  to  secure  it  against  the  efforts  of  oppo- 
sition. But  having  derived  from  our  error  all  the  good  there 
was  in  it,  I  hope  we  shall  correct  it  the  moment  we  can  no 
longer  have  the  same  name  at  the  helm."  He  thus  notices  his 


276  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

practice  of  openly  avowing  his  sentiments,  a  virtue  which  he 
often  carried  beyond  the  verge  of  prudence,  and  for  the  exer- 
cise of  which  he  occasionally  incurred  the  censure  both  of 
friends  and  enemies;  from  one,  for  the  opinions  themselves,  and 
from  the  other,  for  his  unguarded  frankness  in  avowing  them. 
"I  never  had  an  opinion  in  politics  or  religion  which  I  was  afraid 
to  own.  A  costive  reserve  on  these  subjects  might  have  pro- 
cured me  more  esteem  from  some  people,  but  less  from  myself. 
My  great  wish  is,  to  go  on  in  a  strict  and  silent  performance  of 
my  duty:  to  avoid  attracting  notice,  and  to  keep  my  name  out 
of  newspapers,  because  I  find  the  pain  of  a  little  censure,  even 
•when  it  is  unfounded,  is  more  acute  than  the  pleasure  of  much 
praise.  The  attaching  circumstance  of  my  present  office  is, 
that  I  can  do  its  duties  unseen  by  those  for  whom  they  are 
done." 

We  have  seen  that  one  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  objections  to  the 
new  constitution  was,  that  it  was  not  accompanied  with  a 
Declaration  of  Rights.  Mr.  Madison,  though,  on  the  whole, 
friendly  to  such  declarations,  did  not  attach  the  same  import- 
ance to  them  as  Mr.  Jefferson.  His  views  on  the  subject  are 
fully  disclosed  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Jefferson,  dated  in  October, 
1788,  and  they  are  so  marked  by  that  deep  sagacity  and  dispas- 
sionate wisdom  which  have  ever  characterized  his  political 
speculations,  that  they  are  here  given  at  length,  with  the  per- 
mission of  the  venerable  author,  in  the  following 

Extract  of  a  letter  from  James  Madison  to  Thomas  Jefferson. 

New  York,  October  17,  1788. 
"Dear  Sir, 

The  little  pamphlet  herewith  inclosed  will  give  you  a  collec- 
tive view  of  the  alterations  which  have  been  proposed*  for  the 
new  Constitution.  Various  and  numerous  as  they  appear,  they 
certainly  omit  many  of  the  true  grounds  of  opposition.  The 
articles  relating  to  treaties,  to  paper  money,  and  to  contracts, 
created  more  enemies  than  all  the  errors  in  the  system,  positive 
and  negative,  put  together.  It  is  true,  nevertheless,  that  not  a 

*  By  the  State  Conventions. 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  277 

few,  particularly  in  Virginia,  have  contended  for  the  proposed 
alterations  from  the  most  honourable  and  patriotic  motives;  and 
that  among  the  advocates  for  the  Constitution,  there  are  some 
who  wish  for  further  guards  to  public  liberty  and  individual 
rights.  As  far  as  these  may  consist  of  a  constitutional  declara- 
tion of  the  most  essential  rights,  it  is  probable  they  will  be 
added;  though  there  are  many  who  think  such  addition  unne- 
cessary, and  not  a  few  who  think  it  misplaced  in  such  a  Consti- 
tution. There  is  scarce  any  point  on  which  the  party  in  oppo- 
sition is  so  much  divided,  as  to  its  importance  and  its  propriety. 
My  own  opinion  has  always  been  in  favour  of  a  bill  of  rights; 
provided  it  be  so  framed  as  not  to  imply  powers  not  meant  to 
be  included  in  the  enumeration.  At  the  same  time,  I  have 
never  thought  the  omission  a  material  defect,  nor  been  anxious 
to  supply  it  even  by  subsequent  amendment,  for  any  other  reason 
than  that  it  is  anxiously  desired  by  others.  I  have  favoured  it 
because  I  supposed  it  might  be  of  use,  and,  if  properly  executed, 
could  not  be  of  disservice.  I  have  not  viewed  it  in  an  import- 
ant light. 

1.  Because  I  conceive  that  in  a  certain  degree,  though  not 
in  the  extent  argued  by  Mr.  Wilson,  the  rights  in  question  are 
reserved  by  the  manner  in  which  the   federal  powers  are 
granted. 

2.  Because  there  is  great  reason  to  fear  that  a  positive  de- 
claration of  some  of  the  most  essential  rights  could  not  be  ob- 
tained in  the  requisite  latitude.     I  am  sure  that  the  rights  of 
conscience  in  particular,  if  submitted  to  public  definition,  would 
be  narrowed  much  more  than  they  are  likely  ever  to  be  by  an 
assumed  power.     One  of  the  objections  in  New  England  was, 
that  the  Constitution,  by  prohibiting  religious  tests,  opened  a 
door  for  Jews,  Turks,  and  Infidels. 

3.  Because  the  limited  powers  of  the  federal  government, 
and  the  jealousy  of  the  subordinate  governments,  afford  a  secu- 
rity which  has  not  existed  in  the  case  of  the  state  governments, 
and  exists  in  no  other. 

4.  Because  experience  proves  the  inefficacy  of  a  bill  of  rights 
on  those  occasions  when  its  control  is  most  needed.    Repeated 


278  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

violations  of  these  parchment  harriers  have  been  committed  by 
overbearing  majorities  in  every  state.  In  Virginia  I  have  seen  the 
bill  of  rights  violated  in  every  instance  where  it  has  been  opposed 
to  a  popular  current.  Notwithstanding  the  explicit  provision 
contained  in  that  instrument  for  the  rights  of  conscience,  it  is 
well  known  that  a  religious  establishment  would  have  taken 
place  in  that  state,  if  the  legislative  majority  had  found,  as  they 
expected,  a  majority  of  the  people  in  favour  of  that  measure; 
and  I  am  persuaded  that  if  a  majority  of  the  people  were  now 
of  one  sect,  the  measure  would  still  take  place,  and  on  narrower 
ground  than  was  then  proposed,  notwithstanding  the  additional 
obstacle  which  the  law*  has  since  created. 

Wherever  the  real  power  in  a  government  lies,  there  is  the 
danger  of  oppression.  In  our  governments  the  real  power  lies 
in  the  majority  of  the  community,  and  the  invasion  of  private 
rights  is  chiefly  to  be  apprehended,  not  from  acts  of  government 
contrary  to  the  sense  of  its  constituents,  but  from  acts  in  which 
the  government  is  the  mere  instrument  of  the  major  number 
of  the  constituents.  This  is  a  truth  of  great  importance,  but 
not  yet  sufficiently  attended  to;  and  is  probably  more  strongly 
impressed  on  my  mind  by  facts,  and  reflections  suggested  by 
them,  than  on  yours,  which  has  contemplated  abuses  of  power 
issuing  from  a  very  different  quarter.  Wherever  there  is  an 
interest  and  power  to  do  wrong,  wrong  will  generally  be  done, 
and  not  less  readily  by  a  powerful  and  interested  party  than  by 
a  powerful  and  interested  prince.  The  difference,  so  far  as  it 
relates  to  the  superiority  of  republics  over  monarchies,  lies  in 
the  less  degree  of  probability  that  interest  may  prompt  abuses 
of  power  in  the  former  than  in  the  latter;  and  in  the  security 
in  the  former  against  an  oppression  of  more  than  the  smaller 
part  of  the  society,  whereas  in  the  former  it  may  be  extended 
in  a  manner  to  the  whole.  The  difference,  so  far  as  it  relates 
to  the  point  in  question — the  efficacy  of  a  bill  of  rights  in  con- 
trolling abuses  of  power — lies  in  this,  that  in  a  monarchy  the 
latent  force  of  the  nation  is  superior  to  that  of  the  sovereign, 

*  The  Religious  Bill  of  Mr.  Jefferson. 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  279 

and  a  solemn  charter  of  popular  rights  must  have  a  great  effect 
as  a  standard  for  trying  the  validity  of  public  acts,  and  a  signal 
for  rousing  and  uniting  the  superior  force  of  the  community; 
whereas  in  a  popular  government  the  political  or  physical 
power  may  be  considered  as  vested  in  the  same  hands,  that  is, 
in  a  majority  of  the  people,  and  consequently  the  tyrannical 
will  of  the  sovereign  is  not  to  be  controlled  by  the  dread  of  an 
appeal  to  any  other  force  within  the  community. 

What  use  then,  it  may  be  asked,  can  a  bill  of  rights  serve  in 
popular  governments?  I  answer  the  two  following,  which, 
though  less  essential  than  in  other  governments,  sufficiently  re- 
commend the  precaution.  1.  The  political  truths  declared  in  that 
solemn  manner  acquire  by  degrees  the  character  of  fundamental 
maxims  of  free  government,  and  as  they  become  incorporated 
with  the  national  sentiment,  counteract  the  impulses  of  interest 
and  passion.  2.  Although  it  be  generally  true,  as  above  stated, 
that  the  danger  of  oppression  lies  in  the  interested  majorities 
of  the  people  rather  than  in  usurped  acts  of  the  government, 
yet  there  may  be  occasions  on  which  the  evil  may  spring  from 
the  latter  source;  and  on  such,  a  bill  of  rights  will  be  a  good 
ground  for  an  appeal  to  the  sense  of  the  community.  Perhaps, 
too,  there  may  be  a  certain  degree  of  danger,  that  a  succession 
of  artful  and  ambitious  rulers  may,  by  gradual  and  well  timed 
advances,  finally  erect  an  independent  government  on  the  sub- 
version of  liberty.  Should  this  danger  exist  at  all,  it  is  prudent 
to  guard  against  it,  especially  when  the  precaution  can  do  no 
injury.  At  the  same  time  I  must  own  that  I  see  no  tendency 
in  our  governments  to  danger  on  that  side. 

It  has  been  remarked  that  there  is  a  tendency  in  all  govern- 
ments to  an  augmentation  of  power  at  the  expense  of  liberty. 
But  the  remark,  as  usually  understood,  does  not  appear  to  me 
well  founded.  Power,  when  it  has  attained  a  certain  degree 
of  energy  and  independence,  goes  on  generally  to  further  degrees. 
But  when  below  that  degree,  the  direct  tendency  is  to  further 
degrees  of  relaxation,  until  the  abuses  of  liberty  beget  a  sudden 
transition  to  an  undue  degree  of  power.  With  this  explanation 
the  remark  may  be  true;  and  in  the  latter  sense  only  is  it,  in 


280  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

my  opinion,  applicable  to  the  existing  governments  in  America. 
It  is  a  melancholy  reflection,  that  liberty  should  be  equally  ex- 
posed to  danger,  whether  the  government  have  too  much  or 
too  little  power;  and  that  the  line  which  divides  these  extremes 
should  be  so  inaccurately  denned  by  experience. 

Supposing  a  bill  of  rights  to  be  proper,  the  articles  which 
ought  to  compose  it  admit  of  much  discussion.  I  am  inclined 
to  think  that  absolute  restrictions  in  cases  that  are  doubtful,  or 
where  emergencies  may  overrule  them,  ought  to  be  avoided. 
The  restrictions,  however  strongly  marked  on  paper,  will  never 
be  regarded  when  opposed  to  the  decided  sense  of  the  public; 
and  after  repeated  violations  in  extraordinary  cases,  they  will 
lose  even  their  ordinary  efficacy.  Should  a  rebellion  or  insur- 
rection alarm  the  people  as  well  as  the  government,  and  a  sus- 
pension of  the  habeas  corpus  be  dictated  by  the  alarm,  no 
written  prohibitions  on  earth  would  prevent  the  measure. 
Should  an  army  in  time  of  peace  be  gradually  established  in 
our  neighbourhood  by  Britain  or  Spain,  declarations  on  paper 
would  have  as  little  effect  in  preventing  a  standing  force  for 
the  public  safety.  The  best  security  against  these  evils  is,  to 
remove  the  pretext  for  them.  With  regard  to  monopolies,  they 
are  justly  classed  among  the  greatest  nuisances  in  government. 
But  is  it  clear  that,  as  encouragements  to  literary  works  and 
ingenious  discoveries,  they  are  not  too  valuable  to  be  wholly 
renounced?  Would  it  not  suffice  to  reserve  in  all  cases  a  right 
to  the  public  to  abolish  the  privilege,  at  a  price  to  be  specified 
in  the  grant  of  it?  Is  there  not  also  infinitely  less  danger  of  this 
abuse  in  our  government  than  in  most  others?  Monopolies  are 
sacrifices  of  the  many  to  the  few.  Where  the  power  is  in  the 
few,  it  is  natural  for  them  to  sacrifice  the  many  to  their  own 
partialities  and  corruptions.  Where  the  power,  as  with  us,  is 
in  the  many,  not  in  the  few,  the  danger  cannot  be  very  great 
that  the  few  will  be  thus  favoured.  It  is  much  more  to  be 
dreaded  that  the  few  will  be  unnecessarily  sacrificed  to  the 
many." 

In  a  letter  written  two  days  afterwards  to  Mr.  Madison,  he 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  281 

discusses  the  importance  of  a  declaration  of  rights,  to  which,  as 
we  have  seen,  Mr.  Madison  did  not  attach  so  much  importance. 
We  may  here  remark  in  Mr.  Jefferson  an  opinion  of  the  judicial 
functions  very  different  from  that  subsequently  entertained 
by  him.  He  then  regarded  the  judiciary  as  vested  with  the 
power  of  checking  or  arresting  unconstitutional  legislative  acts, 
for,  he  says,  "in  the  agreements  in  favour  of  a  declaration  of 
rights,  you  omit  one  which  has  great  weight  with  me;  the  legal 
check  which  it  puts  into  the  hands  of  the  judiciary.  This  is  a 
body  which,  if  rendered  independent,  and  kept  strictly  to  their 
own  department,  merits  great  confidence  for  their  learning  and 
integrity.  In  fact,  what  degree  of  confidence  would  be  too 
much,  for  a  body  composed  of  such  men  as  Wythe,  Blair,  and 
Pendleton?  On  characters  like  these,  the  civium  ardor  prava 
jubentium  would  make  no  impression.  I  am  happy  to  find  that, 
on  the  whole,  you  are  a  friend  to  this  amendment." 

He  then  answers  the  four  objections  which  had  been  made  to 
these  declarations:  1st  Objection.  "That  the  rights  in  question 
are  reserved  by  the  manner  in  which  the  federal  powers  are 
granted." 

Answer.  A  constitution  may  be  so  framed  as  to  require  no 
declaration  of  rights.  But  where  some  important  objects  are 
unnoticed,  such  a  declaration  becomes  then  necessary.  He 
states,  that  the  draught  which  he  had  made  of  a  constitution 
for  Virginia,  was  intended  to  dispense  with  a  declaration. 

2nd  Objection.  "A  positive  declaration  of  some  essential  rights 
could  not  be  obtained  in  the  requisite  latitude." 

Answer.  That  we  may  not  be  able  to  secure  all,  furnishes  no 
good  argument  against  securing  all  that  we  can. 

3d  Objection.  "The  limited  powers  of  the  general  govern- 
ment, and  the  jealousy  felt  by  the  subordinate  governments, 
affords  a  security  on  this  subject  which  exists  in  no  other  in- 
stance." 

Answer.  This  jealousy  is  admitted  to  be  a  valuable  reliance; 
but  those  governments  are  only  agents,  and  they  must  have 
principles  furnished  them  on  which  to  ground  their  opposition. 

VOL.  I.— 36 


282  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

It  will  also  be  useful  to  the  federal  government,  as  by  this  it 
may  try  the  opposition  of  the  subordinate  governments. 

4th  Objection.  "Experience  proves  the  inefficacy  of  a  bill  of 
rights." 

Answer.  But  though  not  absolutely  efficacious  under  all  cir- 
cumstances, it  is  always  potent  and  rarely  inefficacious.  "A 
brace  the  more  will  often  keep  up  the  building,  which  would 
have  fallen  with  that  brace  the  less.  There  is  a  remarkable 
difference  between  the  inconveniences  attending  a  declaration 
of  rights,  and  those  attending  the  want  of  them."  By  the  first  of 
these,  government  may  be  cramped  in  its  useful  exertions.  But 
this  evil  is,  he  says,  "short  lived,  moderate  and  reparable."  But 
the  last  are  "permanent,  afflicting  and  irreparable." 

The  executive,  he  says,  in  our  governments,  is  not  the  sole, 
and  was  scarcely  the  principal,  object  of  his  jealousy.  The 
tyranny  of  the  legislatures  is  the  most  formidable  dread  at  pre- 
sent, and  will  be  for  many  years.  That  of  the  executive  will 
come  in  its  time,  but  it  will  be  at  a  remote  period.  "I  know," 
he  adds,  "there  are  some  among  us  who  would  now  establish  a 
monarchy.  But  they  are  inconsiderable  in  number  and  weight 
of  character." 

In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Willard,  of  Massachusetts,  among  much 
literary  and  scientific  intelligence  of  the  day,  he  thus  remarks 
on  Lavoisier's  discovery  and  the  new  nomenclature  of  chemistry. 
They  forcibly  remind  us  how  much  that  useful  science  has  ad- 
vanced in  the  intermediate  time. 

"The  chemical  dispute  about  the  conversion  and  reconversion 
of  air  and  water  continues  still  undecided.  Arguments  and  au- 
thorities are  so  balanced,  that  we  may  still  safely  believe,  as 
our  fathers  did  before  us,  that  these  principles  are  distinct.  A 
schism  of  another  kind  has  taken  place  among  the  chemists. 
A  particular  set  of  them  here  have  undertaken  to  remodel  all 
the  terms  of  the  science,  and  to  give  to  every  substance  a  new 
name;  the  composition,  and  especially  the  termination  of  which 
shall  define  the  relation  in  which  it  stands  to  other  substances 
of  the  same  family.  But  the  science  seems  too  much  in  its 
infancy  as  yet  for  this  reformation;  because,  in  fact,  the  refor- 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  283 

mation  this  year  must  be  reformed  again  the  next  year,  and  so 
on,  changing  the  names  of  substances  as  often  as  new  experi- 
ments develope  properties  in  them  undiscovered  before.  The 
new  nomenclature  has  accordingly  been  already  proved  to  need 
numerous  and  important  reformations.  Probably  it  will  not 
prevail.  It  is  espoused  by  the  minority  only  here,  and  by  very 
few  indeed  of  the  foreign  chemists.  It  is  particularly  rejected 
in  England." 

He  then  mentions  Paine's  iron  bridge,  and  Rumsey's  plan  of 
steam  navigation.  After  noticing  the  rich  and  almost  unex- 
plored field  which  America  presents  to  the  mineralogist,  botanist 
and  zoologist,  he  adds:  "It  is  for  such  institutions  as  that  over 
which  you  preside  so  worthily,  sir,  to  do  justice  to  our  country, 
its  productions,  and  its  genius.  It  is  the  work  to  which  the 
young  men  whom  you  are  forming  should  lay  their  hands.  We 
have  spent  the  prime  of  our  lives  in  procuring  them  the  pre- 
cious blessing  of  liberty.  Let  them  spend- theirs  in  showing  that 
it  is  the  great  parent  of  science  and  virtue;  and  that  a  nation 
will  be  great  in  both,  always  in  proportion  as  it  is  free." 

He  had  a  short  time  before  received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Laws  from  the  University  of  Harvard,  conferred  in  September, 
1788:  but  he  never  availed  himself  of  the  title. 

On  the  5th  of  May,  1789,  took  place  the  memorable  meet- 
ing of  the  States  General,  a  body  to  which  the  whole  nation 
looked  most  anxiously  with  eyes  of  hope  or  of  fear.  It  consisted 
of  about  twelve  hundred  members,  of  whom  a  fourth  were  the 
representatives  of  the  clergy,  another  fourth  of  the  nobility,  and 
one  half  of  the  commons  or  the  rest  of  the  nation,  termed  the 
tiers  etat.  The  first  question  which  presented  itself  was,  whe- 
ther the  clergy  and  nobles  should  sit  and  vote  in  a  separate 
chamber,  or  whether  all  the  members  should  sit  and  vote  as  a 
single  body.  As  the  members  of  the  tiers  etat  outnumbered  the 
other  two  united,  every  one  felt  that  the  decision  of  this  ques- 
tion would  decide  whether  the  meeting  were  to  end  in  a  mere 
political  reform,  or  in  a  revolution.  The  several  parties  then 
prepared  themselves  to  defend  their  respective  claims,  but  with 
fearful  odds;  the  smaller  party  being  rendered  yet  weaker  by 


284  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

a  want  of  unanimity  among  themselves,  and  the  more  numerous 
body  being  united  and  supported  not  only  by  the  dissentionists 
of  the  other  orders,  but  by  all  the  rest  of  the  nation. 

That  he  might  be  sooner  and  better  informed  of  the  progress 
of  events,  Mr.  Jefferson  went  every  day  from  Paris  to  Versailles 
to  attend  the  debates. 

The  Marquis  La  Fayette  had  been  chosen  a  member  by  the 
noblesse  of  Auvergne,  who  had  instructed  him  to  vote  for  the 
decision  by  orders,  and  not  by  persons.  On  the  6th  of  May 
Mr.  Jefferson  wrote  him  a  letter,  earnestly  advising  him  to  dis- 
regard his  instructions,  and  to  follow  his  principles  and  inclina- 
tions, by  voting  for  the  decision  by  persons.  He  made  strong 
appeals  to  his  interest,  his  love  of  popularity,  and  his  wish  to  be 
useful;  showed  that  they  all  pointed  out  the  same  course,  that 
if  he  took  a  contrary  one  he  would  sooner  or  later  be  dropped 
by  the  noblesse,  and  that  he  might  then  not  be  received  by 
the  popular  party.  He  even  endeavours  to  reconcile  this  course 
with  his  instructions  by  the  following  reasoning,  which,  it  must 
be  admitted,  is  by  no  means  conclusive.  "Will  it  be  impossible," 
he  says,  "to  persuade  all  parties  that,  (as  for  good  legislation 
two  houses  are  necessary,)  the  placing  the  privileged  classes 
together  in  one  house,  and  the  unprivileged  in  another,  would 
be  better  for  both  than  a  scission.  I  own  I  think  it  would. 
People  can  never  agree  without  some  sacrifices;  and  it  appears 
but  a  moderate  sacrifice  in  each  party  to  meet  on  this  middle 
ground.  The  attempt  to  bring  this  about  might  satisfy  your 
instructions,  and  a  failure  in  it  would  justify  your  siding  with 
the  people,  even  to  those  who  think  instructions  are  laws  of 
conduct."  La  Fayette,  however,  adhered  to  his  instructions, 
and,  as  it  appears,  without  any  immediate  loss  of  his  popularity. 

While  these  preliminary  questions  were  under  discussion, 
Mr.  Jefferson,  who  was  in  habits  of  extreme  intimacy  with  J^a 
Fayette  and  others,  suggested  to  Mons.  St.  Etienne,  that  the 
king,  in  a  seance  royale,  should  come  forward  with  a  charter  of 
rights  in  his  hand,  to  be  signed  by  himself  and  every  member 
of  the  three  orders — this  charter  to  contain  the  five  great 
points  which  the  Resultat  of  December  offered  on  the  part  of 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSOIf.  285 

the  king;  the  abolition  of  pecuniary  privileges  offered  by  the 
privileged  orders,  the  assumption  of  the  national  debt,  and  a 
grant  of  the  sum  of  money  asked  from  the  nation — the  States 
General  to  adjourn  to  the  next  annual  meeting.  By  this 
course  he  thought  time  would  be  gained,  the  public  mind  would 
become  better  informed,  and  "the  basis  of  support  prepared 
with  the  people  themselves."  He  apologises  for  the  course  he 
had  taken  by  his  "immeasurable  love  for  the  French  nation,  and 
a  painful  anxiety  lest  despotism,  after  an  unaccepted  offer  to 
bind  its  own  hands,  should  seize  on  its  prey  with  tenfold  fury." 

The  charter  of  rights  which  the  American  minister  thus 
prepared  for  the  French  people,  consisted  of  ten  articles,  as  fol- 
lows: 

"1.  The  States  General  shall  assemble,  uncalled,  on  the  first 
day  of  November,  annually,  and  shall  remain  together  so  long 
as  they  shall  see  cause.  They  shall  regulate  their  own  elec- 
tions and  proceedings,  and,  until  they  shall  ordain  otherwise, 
their  elections  shall  be  in  the  form  observed  in  the  present  year, 
and  shall  be  triennial. 

2.  The  States  General  alone  shall  levy  money  on  the  nation, 
and  shall  appropriate. 

3.  Laws  shall  be  made  by  the  States  General  only,  with  the 
consent  of  the  king. 

4.  No  person  shall  be  restrained  of  his  liberty  but  by  regular 
process  from  a  court  of  justice,  authorized  by  a  general  law. 
(Except  that  a  noble  may  be  imprisoned  by  order  of  a  court  of 
justice,  on  the  prayer  of  twelve  of  his  nearest  relations.)     On 
complaint  of  an  unlawful  imprisonment  to  any  judge  whatever, 
he  shall  have  the  prisoner  immediately  brought  before  him,  and 
shall  discharge  him,  if  his  imprisonment  be  unlawful.     The 
officer  in  whose  custody  the  prisoner  is,  shall  obey  the  orders 
of  the  judge,  and  both  judge  and  officer  shall  be  responsible, 
civilly  and  criminally,  for  a  failure  of  duty  herein. 

5.  The  military  shall  be  subordinate  to  the  civil  authority. 

6.  Printers  shall  be  liable  to  legal  prosecution  for  printing 
and  publishing  false  facts,  injurious  to  the  party  prosecuting; 
but  they  shall  be  under  no  other  restraint. 


286  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFEKSON. 

7.  All  pecuniary  privileges  and  exemptions  enjoyed  by  any 
description  of  persons,  are  abolished. 

8.  All  debts  already  contracted  by  tbe  king,  are  hereby  made 
the  debts  of  the  nation,  and  the  faith  thereof  is  pledged  for  their 
payment  in  due  time. 

9.  Eighty  millions  of  livres  are  now  granted  to  the  king,  to 
be  raised  by  loan,  and  reimbursed  by  the  nation;  and  the  taxes 
heretofore  paid,  shall  continue  to  be  paid  to  the  end  of  the  pre- 
sent year,  and  no  longer. 

10.  The  States  General  shall  now  separate,  and  meet  again 
on  the  1st  day  of  November  next." 

It  does  not  appear  that  this  advice  resulted  in  any  measure, 
or  was  ever  acted  on.  Supposing  they  had  satisfied  the  demands 
of  the  popular  party,  then  enlarging  their  views  and  rising  in 
their  demands,  they  were  in  far  too  liberal  a  spirit  of  concession 
for  the  government  party.  The  three  orders  continued  to  de- 
bate for  several  weeks  the  important  questions  which  divided 
them,  so  that  they  could  not  agree  even  about  the  verification 
of  their  own  powers,  when  on  the  10th  the  commons  invited 
the  nobles  and  clergy  to  attend  in  the  Hall  of  the  States  for 
that  purpose,  on  that  day.  They  accordingly  then  proceeded 
to  the  verification,  and  it  being  finished  on  the  15th,  a  motion 
was  made  that  they  constitute  themselves  a  national  assembly,  which 
motion  was  adopted  on  the  17th.  During  these  debates,  a  few 
of  the  clergy  joined  the  commons,  while  the  nobles  remained 
unbroken.  After  a  vain  attempt,  by  removing  the  king  to 
Marly,  to  unite  him  to  the  party  of  the  nobles,  both  they  and 
the  clergy  were  compelled  to  yield,  at  the  instance  of  the  king 
himself,  to  the  popular  sentiment,  and  to  unite  themselves  with 
the  commons,  where  the  three  orders  amalgamated  into  one 
assembly,  consisting  of  about  twelve  hundred  members. 

The  particulars  are  all  faithfully  detailed  by  Mr.  Jefferson 
in  his  letters  to  Mr.  Jay,  written  every  day  or  two  immediately 
after  the  occurrences  which  they  detail. 

Mirabeau,  in  his  debates  of  the  national  assembly,  having, 
for  the  purpose  of  casting  censure  on  Neckar,  stated  that  Mr. 
Jefferson  had  made  an  offer  to  the  French  minister  to  have 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  287 

corn  brought  over  from  America,  which  Neckar  had  refused, 
Mr.  Jefferson  wrote  to  La  Fayette  to  contradict  the  statement; 
the  only  foundation  for  it  being  the  fact,  that  Mr.  Neckar  had, 
the  year  before,  asked  Mr.  Jefferson  to  have  it  made  public  in 
the  United  States,  that  corn  and  flour  would  meet  with  a  good 
market  in  France;  which  information  he  had  communicated  to 
Mr.  Jay.  He  requested  La  Fayette  to  make  these  facts  known 
to  the  assembly.  He  also  gave  the  same  explanation  to  Mons. 
Neckar.  But  the  contradiction  having  now  transferred  public 
censure  from  Neckar  to  Mirabeau,  to  put  a  stop  to  it,  he  writes 
to  La  Fayette  to  have  his  letter  printed. 

It  seems  that  during  the  public  ferment,  Mr.  Jefferson's  hotel 
was  repeatedly  robbed,  in  consequence  of  which  he  was  induced 
to  apply  to  Monsieur  de  Mbntmorin  for  a  guard. 

It  appears  from  several  letters  between  General  Washington 
and  Mr.  Jefferson,  that,  at  this  time,  it  was  generally  believed 
that  a  canal  connecting  Lake  Erie  with  the  river  Ohio  would 
be  likely  to  bring  the  trade  of  the  western  country  to  Virginia, 
as  the  distance  to  the  Atlantic  is  less  in  that  direction  than  any 
other.  But  by  reason  of  the  subsequent  more  rapid  growth  of 
New  York,  and  of  the  canal  which  has  since  been  executed, 
and  which  the  most  visionary  projector  of  that  day  had  not  even 
conceived,  trade  now  takes  a  contrary  course,  and  goes  from 
the  Ohio  to  Lake  Erie,  thence  down  the  lake,  by  the  canal,  to 
the  Hudson,  instead  of  up  Lake  Erie,  down  the  Ohio,  and  thence 
across  to  Virginia.  The  time  may,  however  come,  when  raw 
produce  which  is  now  transported  from  the  Ohio  to  the  lake, 
by  the  Cleveland  canal,  will  be  transported  in  an  opposite  di- 
rection. 

After  the  several  orders  of  the  states  general  were  amalga- 
mated into  one  body,  and  this  was  regarded  as  the  constitutional 
representative  of  the  nation,  Mr.  Jefferson  evidently  partook 
of  the  high  hopes,  and  the  warm  enthusiasm  which  pervaded 
not  only  the  mass  of  the  French  people,  but  the  friends  of  civil 
freedom  every  where.  Yet  his  mind  was  not  without  certain 
secret  misgivings,  as  appears  by  his  letter  to  T.  Paine,  dated 
July  11, 1789/  After  speaking  of  a  report  of  a  committee  con- 


288  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

cerning  the  rights  of  man,  the  nation,  and  the  king,  on  which  it 
was  proposed  to  found  the  new  government,  he  thus  proceeds: 

"You  see  that  there  are  the  materials  of  a  superb  edifice, 
and  the  hands  which  have  prepared  them  are  perfectly  capa- 
ble of  putting  them  together,  and  of  filling  up  the  work  of 
which  these  are  only  the  outlines.  While  there  are  some  men 
among  them  of  very  superior  abilities,  the  mass  possess  such  a 
degree  of  good  sense  as  enables  them  to  decide  well.  I  have 
always  been  afraid  their  numbers  might  lead  to  confusion. 
Twelve  hundred  men  in  one  room  are  too  many.  I  have  still 
that  fear.  Another  apprehension  is,  that  a  majority  cannot  be 
induced  to  adopt  the  trial  by  jury;  and  I  consider  that  as  the 
only  anchor  ever  yet  imagined  by  man,  by  which  a  govern- 
ment can  be  held  to  the  principles  of  its  constitution." 

The  actual  fury  of  the  civil  tempest,  however,  when  it  did 
burst,  soon  outwent  all  his  anticipations.  On  the  very  day  on 
which  this  letter  was  dated,  Neckar  received  his  dismissal,  and, 
at  midnight,  set  out  for  Brussels.  The  Baron  de  Breteuil  was 
appointed  to  succeed  him;  and  he,  as  well  as  all  the  other  new 
ministers,  had  been  known  to  be  in  favour  of  the  most  arbitrary 
principles  of  government.  Their  policy  seems  to  have  been 
to  put  down  civil  commotion  by  force,  for  which  purpose  troops 
were  marched  to  Paris  and  Versailles,  to  the  amount  of  30,000, 
and  placed  under  the  command  of  Marshal  Broglio,  on  whose 
firmness  and  principles  they  could  rely.  But  these  measures 
served  only  to  hasten  the  catastrophe.  The  people  began  to 
arm  in  turn,  and  in  applying  to  the  Governor  of  the  Bastile  for 
arms,  four  men  were  killed  by  a  discharge  from  that  prison. 
On  this,  the  people  assembled  in  great  numbers,  forcibly  entered 
the  Bastile  defended  by  100  men,  seized  the  governor  and  lieu- 
tenant-governor, and  having  carried  them  to  the  place  of  exe- 
cution, cut  off  their  heads.  The  next  day,  July  the  15th,  the 
Bastile  was  attacked  and  razed  to  the  ground. 

Mr.  Jefferson  thinks  that  here  again  the  Revolution  might 
have  been  arrested,  if  the  queen  had  been  put  into  a  convent, 
and  Louis  been  left  to  follow  his  own  good  feelings,  and  the 
advice  of  his  more  prudent  counsellors.  Neckar  had  not  reached 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  289 

Basle  before  he  received  a  letter  of  recall,  and  a  new  adminis- 
tration was  formed,  more  in  accordance  with  the  popular  feel- 
ing. But  on  the  4th  of  August,  the  National  Assembly  abolished 
all  distinctions  of  rank,  titles,  and  every  other  feudal  privilege 
whatever.  A  committee  was  appointed  to  prepare  a  constitu- 
tion, of  which  the  Archbishop  of  Bordeaux  was  chairman.  Mr. 
Jefferson  had  received  a  letter  from  the  archbishop,  inviting 
him  to  attend  the  sittings  of  the  committee,  which,  he  thought, 
it  became  him  to  decline,  as  interfering  in  the  internal  concerns 
of  a  foreign  country. 

During  the  time  of  these  commotions,  Mr.  Jefferson  feeling 
the  liveliest  interest  in  all  that  was  passing  around  him,  took 
the  utmost  pains  to  acquire  an  accurate  knowledge  of  facts, 
and  he  wrote  from  personal  information  whenever  he  could*  "I 
went,"  he  writes  to  Mr.  Jay  on  the  19th  of  July,  "yesterday  to 
Versailles,  to  satisfy  myself  what  had  passed  there;  for  nothing 
can  be  believed  but  what  one  sees,  or  has  from  an  eye  witness. 
They  believe  there  still,  that  three  thousand  people  have  fallen 
victims  to  the  tumults  of  Paris.  Mr.  Short  and  myself  have 
been  every  day  among  them,  in  order  to  be  sure  of  what  was 
passing.  We  cannot  find,  with  certainty,  that  any  body  has 
been  killed,  but  the  three  before  mentioned,  and  those  who  fell 
in  the  assault  or  defence  of  the  Bastile.  How  many  of  the  gar- 
rison were  killed  nobody  pretends  to  have  ever  heard.  Of  the 
assailants,  accounts  vary  from  five  to  six  hundred.  The  most 
general  belief  is,  that  there  fell  about  thirty." 

From  the  capture  of  the  Bastile  to  the  last  of  August  there 
was  no  disturbance,  and  in  this  interval,  Mr.  Jefferson  seemed 
to  have  had  more  fears  that  the  aristocracy  would  regain  the 
ground  they  had  lost  than  that  the  people  would  be  led  to 
greater  excesses.  He  writes  to  Mr.  Madison  on  the  28th  of 
August,  "that  enemy  of  the  Assembly  (the  civil  and  ecclesias- 
tical aristocracy)  begins  to  raise  its  head."  It  was  his  opinion, 
that,  if  the  Assembly  should  rise  without  forming  a  constitution, 
from  the  delays  which  must  necessarily  attend  the  deliberations 
of  twelve  hundred  men,  the  plan  of  one  would  be  proposed  by 
the  national  militia,  urged  by  the  individual  members  of  the 

VOL.  I.— 37 


290  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

Assembly,  signed  by  the  king,  and  supported  by  the  nation,  to 
prevail  till  circumstances  permitted  its  revision  and  more  regu- 
lar sanction.  This,  he  supposed  "the  pis  aller  of  their  affairs, 
and  their  probable  event,  a  peaceable  settlement  of  them."  He 
thus  exults  in  the  favourable  dispositions  of  the  Assembly 
towards  America.  "Our  proceedings  have  been  viewed  as  a 
model  for  them  on  every  occasion;  and,  though  in  the  heat  of 
debate  men  are  generally  disposed  to  contradict  every  authority 
urged  by  their  opponents,  our's  has  been  treated  like  that  of 
the  bible,  open  to  explanation,  but  not  to  question." 

He  then  deprecates  our  putting  the  French  and  the  English 
nations  upon  the  same  footing,  as  to  trade;  the  one  being  our 
friends  and  benefactors,  the  other  our  rivals  and  enemies.  He 
knows,  he  says,  "but  one  code  of  morality  for  men,  whether 
acting  singly  or  collectively." 

In  answer  to  Mr.  Madison's  inquiry,  whether  he  would  accept 
any  appointment  at  home,  he  answers — "You  know  the  cir- 
cumstances which  led  me  from  retirement,  step  by  step,  and 
from  one  nomination  to  another,  up  to  the  present.  My  object 
is  a  return  to  the  same  retirement.  Whenever,  therefore,  I 
quit  the  present,  it  will  not  be  to  engage  in  any  other  office,  and, 
most  especially,  any  one  which  would  require  a  constant  resi- 
dence from  home." 

While  Mr.  Jefferson  saw  with  pleasure  and  a  degree  of  na- 
tional exultation,  the  abolition  of  titles,  and  the  privileges  of 
rank  in  France,  it  was  with  a  proportionate  degree  of  surprise 
and  mortification  that  he  heard  of  a  disposition  to  create  these 
artificial  distinctions  in  America.  He  had  partaken  of  the 
jealousy  which  was  felt  by  his  countrymen  against  the  order  of 
Cincinnati,  as  an  attempt  to  disturb  that  equality  of  rights 
which  seems  essential  in  a  popular  government,  and  he  regarded 
the  official  titles  which  some  wished  to  annex  to  the  functionaries 
under  the  new  constitution,  as  of  a  similar  character.  He  thus 
expresses  his  sentiments  on  the  subject  to  Mr.  Carmichael. 

"The  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  differed  about 
the  title  of  the  President.  The  former  wanted  to  style  him, 
'his  Highness  George  Washington,  President  of  the  United 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  291 

States,  and  Protector  of  their  Liberties.'  The  latter  insisted 
and  prevailed  to  give  no  title  but  of  office,  to  wit:  George  Wash- 
ington, President  of  the  United  States.  I  hope  the  terms  of 
Excellency,  Honour,  Worship,  Esquire,  may  forever  disappear 
among  us  from  that  moment.  I  wish  that  of  Mr.  would  follow 
them."  He  was  consistent  in  this  dislike  of  empty  titles,  and 
when  he  became  President,  as  well  as  at  all  times  before  and 
after,  his  invitations  and  visiting  cards  never  had  any  addi- 
tion to  the  name  of  "Thomas  Jefferson." 

Among  the  speculative  opinions  in  which  Mr.  Jefferson  occa- 
sionally indulged,  and  on  which  his  enemies  founded  their  charge 
against  him  of  being  visionary,  was  one  which  he  communicates 
to  Mr.  Madison,  in  a  letter  dated  in  September,  and  which  was 
probably  suggested  by  some  of  the  questions  of  first  principles 
which  were  then  under  discussion  in  the  National  Assembly; 
and  were  in  great  vogue  throughout  Paris. 

He  insists  that  the  use  of  the  earth  belongs  to  the  living  gene- 
rations, and  that  the  dead  have  no  more  right  than  they  have 
power  over  it.  In  the  application  of  this  principle  he  main- 
tains, that  no  generation  can  pledge,  or  encumber  the  lands  of  a 
country  beyond  the  average  term  of  its  own  existence,  which 
term,  by  a  reference  to  the  annuity  tables  of  Buffon,  he  esti- 
mates first  to  34  years,  and  afterwards  reduces  to  19  years.  By 
reason  of  this  restriction,  founded  in  nature  and  the  first  princi- 
ples of  justice,  he  maintains  that  every  law,  and  even  constitu- 
tion, naturally  expires  at  the  expiration  of  this  term;  and  that 
no  public  debt  can  be  contracted  which  would  be  rightfully 
binding  on  the  nation  after  the  same  lapse  of  time. 

He  thus  earnestly  invites  Mr.  Madison's  attention  to  his  theo- 
ry. "Turn  this  subject  in  your  mind,  rriy  dear  sir,  and  par- 
ticularly as  to  the  power  of  contracting  debts,  and  develope  it 
with  that  cogent  logic  which  is  so  peculiarly  your's.  Your  sta- 
tion in  the  councils  of  our  country,  gives  you  an  opportunity  of 
producing  it  to  public  consideration,  of  forcing  it  into  discussion. 
At  first  blush,  it  may  be  laughed  at,  as  the  dream  of  a  theorist; 
but  examination  will  prove  it  to  be  solid  and  salutary.  It  would 
furnish  matter  for  a  fine  preamble  to  our  first  law  for  appro- 


292  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

priating  the  public  revenue;  and  it  will  exclude,  at  the  thresh- 
hold  of  our  new  government,  the  ruinous  and  contagious  errors 
of  this  quarter  of  the  globe,  which  have  armed  despots  with 
means  which  nature  does  not  sanction,  for  binding  in  chains 
their  fellow  men.  We  have  already  given,  in  example,  one 
effectual  check  to  the  dogs  of  war,  by  transferring  the  power  of 
declaring  war  from  the  executive  to  the  legislative  body:  from 
those  who  are  to  spend,  to  those  who  are  to  pay.  I  should  be 
pleased  to  see  this  second  obstacle  held  out  by  us  also  in  the  first 
instance." 

As  the  reader  may  be  curious  to  see  Mr.  Madison's  views  of 
this  novel  principle  in  legislation,  an  extract  of  his  reply  to  the 
preceding  letter  is  here  subjoined:  and  although  we  may  be  dis- 
posed to  question  with  him,  both  the  justice  and  the  expediency 
of  such  a  principle,  adopted  without  discrimination,  yet  we  can- 
not but  yield  our  respect  to  the  ever  active  spirit  of  benevo- 
lence which  dictated  it.  Mr.  Jefferson's  very  sanguine  temper 
was  never  so  likely  to  mislead  his  judgment  as  in  schemes  for 
the  promotion  of  human  happiness,  and  advancing  the  condition 
of  civil  society.  The  reply  is  very  characteristical  of  the  cau- 
tious spirit  and  profound  reflection  of  its  author. 

"New  York,  February  4,  1790. 
Dear  Sir, 

Your  favour  of  January  9th,  inclosing  one  of  September  last, 
did  not  get  to  hand  till  a  few  days  ago.  The  idea  which  the 
latter  evolves  is  a  great  one,  and  suggests  many  interesting 
reflections  to  legislators,  particularly  when  contracting  and  pro- 
viding for  public  debts.  Whether  it  can  be  received  in  the 
extent  to  which  your  reasonings  carry  it,  is  a  question  which 
I  ought  to  turn  more  in  my  thoughts  than  I  have  yet  been  able 
to  do,  before  I  should  be  justified  in  making  up  a  full  opinion 
on  it.  My  first  thoughts  lead  me  to  view  the  doctrine  as  not 
in  all  respects  compatible  with  the  course  of  human  affairs.  I 
will  endeavour  to  sketch  the  grounds  of  my  scepticism. 

'As  the  earth  belongs  to  the  living,  not  to  the  dead,  a  living 
generation  can  bind  itself  only:  in  every  society  the  will  of  the 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  293 

majority  binds  the  whole:  according  to  the  laws  of  mortality,  a 
majority  of  those  ripe  for  the  exercise  of  their  will,  do  not  live 
beyond  the  term  of  19  years:  to  this  term  then  is  limited  the 
validity  of  every  act  of  the  society;  nor  can  any  act  be  con- 
tinued beyond  this  term,  without  an  express  declaration  of  the 
public  will.'  This  I  understand  to  be  the  outline  of  the  argu- 
ment. 

The  acts  of  a  political  society  may  be  divided  into  three 
classes: 

1.  The  fundamental  constitution  of  the  government. 

2.  Laws  involving  some  stipulation,  which  renders  them  irre- 
vocable at  the  will  of  the  legislature. 

3.  Laws  involving  no  such  irrevocable  quality. 

1.  However  applicable  in  theory  the  doctrine  may  be  to  a 
constitution,  it  seems  liable  in  practice  to  some  weighty  objec- 
tions. 

Would  not  a  government  ceasing  of  necessity  at  the  end  of  a 
given  term,  unless  prolonged  by  some  constitutional  act,  pre- 
vious to  its  expiration,  be  too  subject  to  the  casualty  and  con- 
sequences of  an  interregnum? 

Would  not  a  government  so  often  revised,  become  too  muta- 
ble and  novel  to  retain  that  share  of  prejudice  in  its  favour, 
which  is  a  salutary  aid  to  the  most  rational  government? 

Would  not  such  a  periodical  revision  engender  pernicious  fac- 
tions, that  might  not  otherwise  come  into  existence,  and  agitate 
the  public  mind  more  frequently  and  more  violently  than  might 
be  expedient? 

2.  In  the  second  class  of  acts  involving  stipulations,  must  not 
exceptions,  at  least,  to  the  doctrine  be  admitted? 

If  the  earth  be  the  gift  of  nature  to  the  living,  their  title  can 
extend  to  the  earth  in  its  natural  state  only.  The  improvements 
made  by  the  dead  form  a  debt  against  the  living,  who  take  the 
benefit  of  them.  This  debt  cannot  be  otherwise  discharged 
than  by  a  proportionate  obedience  to  the  will  of  the  authors  of 
the  improvements. 

But  a  case  less  liable  to  be  controverted  may  perhaps  be 
stated.  Debts  may  be  incurred  with  a  direct  view  to  the  in- 


294  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

terest  of  the  unborn,  as  well  as  of  the  living.  Such  are  debts 
for  repelling  a  conquest,  the  evils  of  which  descend  through 
many  generations.  Debts  may  be  incurred  principally  for  the 
benefit  of  posterity:  such,  perhaps,  is  the  debt  incurred  by  the 
United  States.  In  these  instances,  the  debt  might  not  be  dis- 
chargeable  within  the  term  of  19  years. 

There  seems  then  to  be  some  foundation  in  the  nature  of 
things,  in  the  relation  which  one  generation  bears  to  another, 
for  the  descent  of  obligations  from  one  to  another.  Equity  may 
require  it.  Mutual  good  may  be  promoted  by  it;  and  all  that 
seems  indispensable  in  stating  the  account  between  the  dead 
and  the  living,  is  to  see  that  the  debts  against  the  latter  do  not 
exceed  the  advances  made  by  the  former.  Few  of  the  in- 
cumbrances  entailed  on  nations  by  their  predecessors,  would  bear 
a  liquidation  even  on  this  principle. 

3.  Objections  to  the  doctrine,  as  applied  to  the  third  class  of 
acts,  must  be  merely  practical.  But  in  that  view  alone  they 
appear  to  be  material. 

Unless  such  temporary  laws  should  be  kept  in  force  by  acts 
regularly  anticipating  their  expiration,  all  the  rights  depending 
on  positive  laws,  that  is,  most  of  the  rights  of  property,  would 
become  absolutely  defunct,  and  the  most  violent  struggles  ensue 
between  the  parties  interested  in  reviving,  and  those  interested 
in  reforming  the  antecedent  state  of  property.  Nor  does  it 
seem  improbable  that  such  an  event  might  be  suffered  to  take 
place.  The  checks  and  difficulties  opposed  to  the  passage  of 
laws,  which  render  the  power  of  repeal  inferior  to  an  opportu- 
nity to  reject,  as  a  security  against  oppression,  would  have  ren- 
dered the  latter  an  insecure  provision  against  anarchy.  Add  to 
this,  that  the  very  possibility  of  an  event  so  hazardous  to  the 
rights  of  property  could  not  but  depreciate  its  value;  that  the 
approach  of  the  crisis  would  increase  the  effect;  that  the  fre- 
quent return  of  periods,  superseding  all  the  obligations  depend- 
ing on  antecedent  laws  and  usages,  must,  by  weakening  the  sense 
of  them,  co-operate  with  motives  to  licentiousness  already  too 
powerful;  and  that  the  general  uncertainty  and  vicissitudes  of 
such  a  state  of  things  would,  on  one  side,  discourage  every  use- 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  295 

ful  effort  of  steady  industry,  pursued  under  the  sanction  of  ex- 
isting laws,  and  on  the  other,  give  an  immediate  advantage  to 
the  more  sagacious  over  the  less  sagacious  part  of  society. 

I  can  find  no  relief  from  such  embarrassments  but  in  the 
received  doctrine  that  a  tacit  assent  may  be  given  to  established 
governments  and  laws,  and  that  this  assent  is  to  be  inferred 
from  the  omission  of  an  express  revocation.  It  seems  more 
practicable  to  remedy  bv  well  constituted  governments,  the 
pestilent  operation  of  this  doctrine,  in  the  unlimited  sense  in 
which  it  is  at  present  received,  than  it  is  to  find  a  remedy  for 
the  evils  necessarily  springing  from  an  unlimited  admission  of 
the  contrary  doctrine. 

Is  it  not  doubtful,  whether  it  be  possible  to  exclude  wholly  the 
idea  of  an  implied  or  tacit  assent,  without  subverting  the  very 
foundation  of  civil  society? 

On  what  principle  is  it  that  the  voice  of  the  majority  binds 
the  minority? 

It  does  not  result,  I  conceive,  from  a  law  of  nature,  but  from 
compact  founded  on  utility. 

A  greater  proportion  might  be  required  by  the  fundamental 
constitution  of  society,  if  under  any  particular  circumstances  it 
were  judged  eligible.  Prior,  therefore,  to  the  establishment  of 
this  principle,  unanimity  was  necessary;  and  rigid  theory  ac- 
cordingly presupposes  the  assent  of  every  individual  to  the  rule 
which  subjects  the  minority  to  the  will  of  the  majority.  If  this 
assent  cannot  be  given  tacitly,  or  be  not  implied  where  no  posi- 
tive evidence  forbids,  no  person  born  in  society  could,  on  attain- 
ing ripe  age,  be  bound  by  any  acts  of  the  majority,  and  either 
an  unanimous  renewal  of  every  law  would  be  necessary,  as  often 
as  a  new  member  should  be  added  to  the  society,  or  the  express 
consent  of  every  new  member  be  obtained  to  the  rule  by  which 
the  majority  decides  for  the  whole. 

If  these  observations  be  not  misapplied,  it  follows  that  a  limi- 
tation of  the  validity  of  all  acts,  to  the  computed  life  of  a  gene- 
ration establishing  them,  is,  in  some  cases,  not  required  by 
theory,  and,  in  others,  not  consistent  with  practice.  They  are 
not  meant,  however,  to  impeach  either  the  utility  of  the  prin- 


296  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

ciplc,  as  applied  to  the  cases  you  have  particularly  in  view,  or 
the  general  importance  of  it  in  the  eye  of  the  philosophical  legis- 
lator. On  the  contrary,  it  would  give  me  singular  pleasure  to 
see  it  first  announced  to  the  world  in  a  law  of  the  United  States, 
and  always  kept  in  view  as  a  salutary  restraint  on  living  gene- 
rations, from  unjust  and  unnecessary  burthens  on  their  successors. 
This  is  a  pleasure,  however,  which  I  have  no  hope  of  enjoying. 
It  is  so  much  easier  to  descry  the  little  difficulties  immediately 
incident  to  every  great  plan,  than  to  comprehend  its  general 
and  remote  benefits,  that  further  light  must  be  added  to  the 
councils  of  our  country,  before  many  truths  which  are  seen 
through  the  medium  of  philosophy,  become  visible  to  the  naked 
eye  of  the  ordinary  politician." 

In  addition  to  the  preceding  objections  urged  by  Mr.  Madi- 
son, it  may  admit  of  a  question,  whether  it  would  impose  a 
material  restriction  on  the  power  of  governments  to  contract 
loans  for  the  purposes  of  improvident  expenditure.  For  sup- 
posing a  loan  to  be  contracted  redeemable  at  the  end  of  19 
years,  or  even  a  less  time,  the  existing  generation  at  the  time 
it  became  due,  might  find  it  easier  to  provide  for  its  payment 
by  new  loans,  rather  than  by  taxes,  and  thus  postpone  the  pay- 
ment for  a  further  term,  and  so  on  ad  infinitum;  each  succeed- 
ing generation  shifting  off  the  burthen  of  payment  upon  that 
which  was  to  succeed.  The  mischief  of  a  public  debt  consists 
in  its  encouraging  the  improvidence  of  the  government,  whereby 
it  is  enabled  to  spend  that  portion  of  the  national  capital  im- 
productively,  which  would  otherwise  have  found  productive 
employment;  and  this  mischief  is  the  same,  both  in  extent  and 
duration,  whether  the  money  be  borrowed  for  a  longer  or  shorter 
time,  on  short  annuities,  or  perpetual  ones. 

Nor  does  the  provision  seem  more  capable  of  defence  on  the 
ground  of  natural  justice.  For  every  generation  is  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  the  fruits  of  the  labour  expended  by  preceding  genera- 
tions: most  of  the  houses  it  inhabits  have  been  built  by  them 
— roads — canals — public  buildings,  are  the  work  of  their  hands. 
Much  of  the  furniture,  plate,  engines  and  utensils,  have  had  the 
same  origin;  and  the  existing  generation  ought  not  to  object  to 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  297 

take  these  benefits  cum  onere.  The  capital  which  has  been 
procured  by  loan,  and  expended,  may  perhaps  have  been  as 
advantageous  to  the  posterity  of  those  who  contracted  it  as  to 
themselves,  and  their  own  enjoyments  and  incomes  may  be  quite 
as  much  enhanced  as  their  burthens.  We  speak  not  merely  of 
loans  contracted  in  defence  of  national  rights  or  independence, 
but  of  the  mere  question  of  pecuniary  loss  or  gain.  Thus,  sup- 
pose ten  millions  of  dollars  borrowed  at  an  interest  of  5  per 
cent.,  and  employed  in  cutting  a  canal — posterity  would  thus 
be  burthened  with  a  perpetual  tax  of  500,000  dollars.  Sup- 
pose, however,  that  the  canal,  at  the  same  time,  yields  an  in- 
come of  1,000,000;  in  that  case,  subsequent  generations  would 
annually  gain  by  the  debt  half  a  million  beyond  the  amount  of 
the  tax  the  debt  had  occasioned. 

It  is  true,  that  all  the  loans  contracted  by  government  are 
not  of  this  character.  Many  of  them  owe  their  origin  to  pur- 
poses that  do  not  affect  posterity,  and  some  that  are  not  even 
advantageous  to  the  existing  generation;  but  the  affairs  of 
nations  do  not  admit  of  being  reduced  to  very  precise  rules,  and 
we  must  look  to  their  general  character  and  tendencies.  If,  in 
many  cases,  both  policy  and  justice  would  imperiously  require 
of  us  to  fulfil  contracts  made  by  the  past  generation,  it  affords 
sufficient  ground  for  introducing  the  general  principle,  though 
cases  may  occasionally  occur  which  do  not  fall  within  the  reason 
of  it. 

It  may  be  further  remarked,  that  whatever  may  be  the  good 
or  evil  of  the  principle,  we  may  safely  pronounce,  that  it  is  one 
on  which  no  community  will  ever  consent  to  act.  Men  have 
always  affected,  says  Sir  William  Blackstone,  to  do  as  they 
please  during  their  lives,  and  to  restrain  those  who  are  to  come 
after  them;  but  the  principle  recommended  by  Mr.  Jefferson  is 
in  direct  collision  with  this  general  propensity. 

With  respect  to  the  duration  of  laws,  the  presumption  is,  that 
if  they  were  considered  to  be  so  salutary  as  not  to  deserve 
repeal,  they  would  be  regularly  re-enacted  before  the  term  of 
their  continuance  expired.  And  as  it  would  be  foreseen,  that 
it  might  not  always  be  easy  to  re-enact  a  law  that  is  salutary, 

VOL.  I.— 38 


298  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

from  the  accidental  prejudices  of  the  legislators,  or  from  the 
influence  of  private  motives,  or  the  delays  incident  to  popular 
assemblies,  laws  of  this  character  would  often  be  re-enacted 
before  they  expired,  as  we  occasionally  see  in  the  renewal  of 
charters  some  years  before  they  terminate. 

But  if,  on  the  other  hand,  the  re-enactment  did  not  take  place, 
other  inconveniences  would  probably  follow.  It  might  often 
happen,  that  acts  deserving  punishment,  and  formerly  punish- 
able, would  go  unpunished;  property  might  pass  by  a  new  ruie, 
or  would  remain  undisposed  of,  for  want  of  a  rule;  and  legisla- 
tion, of  which  there  is  apt  to  be  too  much,  might,  by  this  provi- 
sion, be  needlessly  multiplied,  and  extended  to  cases  where  it 
would  not  have  been  thought  of,  but  for  the  necessity  of  re- 
enactment  thus  created.  It  seems  to  be  far  safer  and  better  to 
leave  it  discretionary  with  the  legislature  to  give  laws  a  tem- 
porary existence  whenever  it  thinks  proper,  and  to  make 
their  duration  in  general  indefinite,  so  that  they  can  be  repealed 
if  found  inconvenient  on  trial,  and  be  quietly  permitted  to  con- 
tinue so  long  as  they  are  not  objected  to. 

It  must  be  remembered  too,  that  the  mere  frequency  of 
change  in  the  laws  is  itself  an  evil,  not  merely  because  it  is 
always  more  or  less  an  inconvenience  either  to  learn  a  new  rule, 
or  to  remain  ignorant  of  it,  but  also,  because  the  people  in  the 
course  of  time  adapt  themselves  to  laws,  where  the  laws  might 
not  at  first  be  adapted  to  them.  The  parts  not  suited  to  the 
purpose  of  their  framers  become  obsolete  from  disuse,  while 
those  of  a  different  character  acquire  an  increased  efficacy  by 
usage;  in  the  same  way  as  an  old  shoe  is  easier  than  a  new 
one.  But  the  principle  proposed  by  Mr.  Jefferson  would  greatly 
augment  this  evil  of  change,  by  compelling  legislation  on  every 
subject,  after  every  term  of  nineteen  years. 

In  September,  Mr.  Jefferson  proposed  to  Mr.  Neckar  to  draw 
supplies  of  salted  provisions  from  America  to  France,  suggest- 
ing in  favour  of  the  measure,  that  it  was  much  cheaper  than 
fresh  meat,  and  that,  by  enabling  the  French  people  to  turn  a 
part  of  their  lands  from  pasturage  to  the  growth  of  corn,  it 
would  make  the  supply  of  that  article  more  abundant.  He 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  299 

relies  on  the  experience  of  America  to  prove  that  salt  meat, 
when  eaten  with  vegetables,  is  as  wholesome  as  fresh. 

Before  he  left  Paris,  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Jay  a  long  letter  on  the 
state  of  parties,  of  which  he  makes  the  following  enumeration: 
1.  "The  aristocrats,  comprehending  the  higher  members  of  the 
clergy,  military,  nobility,  and  the  parliaments  of  the  whole 
kingdom.  This  forms  a  head  without  a  body.  2.  The  moderate 
royalists,  who  wish  for  a  constitution  nearly  similar  to  that  of 
England.  3.  The  republicans,  who  are  willing  to  let  their  first 
magistracy  be  hereditary,  but  to  make  it  very  subordinate  to 
the  legislature,  and  to  have  that  legislature  consist  of  a  single 
chamber.  4.  The  faction  of  Orleans.  The  second  and  third 
descriptions  are  composed  of  honest  well-meaning  men,  differing 
in  opinion  only,  but  both  wishing  the  establishment  of  as  great 
a  degree  of  liberty  as  can  be  preserved.  They  are  considered 
as  constituting  the  patriotic  part  of  the  Assembly,  and  they  are 
supported  by  the  soldiery  of  the  army,  the  soldiery  of  the  cler- 
gy, that  is  to  say,  the  Cures  and  monks,  the  dissenters,  and 
part  of  the  nobility  which  is  small,  and  the  substantial  Bour- 
geoisie of  the  whole  nation."  He  was  of  opinion  that  these  two 
parties  would  not  separate,  but  would  still  more  closely  coalesce; 
and  he  mentions  La  Fayette,  among  other  bonds  of  union  be- 
tween them;  says,  he  left  the  Assembly  while  they  as  yet  formed 
but  one  party,  that  his  attachment  to  both  was  equal,  and  that 
he  laboured  incessantly  to  keep  them  together. 

He  discusses  the  chances  which  might  be  brought  about,  either 
by  the  want  of  bread,  by  a  public  bankruptcy,  or  the  abscond- 
ing of  the  king  from  Versailles.  He,  however,  concluded  that 
no  commotion  would  take  place;  and  though  it  should,  "that 
the  patriotic  party  would  hold  together."  In  this  case,  he  says, 
"there  would  be  against  them  the  aristocracy  and  the  Orleans 
faction.  This  consists,  at  this  time,  of  only  the  Catalines  of  the 
Assembly,  and  some  of  the  lowest  descriptions  of  the  mob." 

On  the  26th  of  September  he  took  leave  of  Paris,  after  a 
residence  of  something  more  than  five  years.  He  had  come  to 
France  with  strong  prepossessions  in  favour  of  its  people,  which 
a  more  intimate  acquaintance  seemed  to  improve.  Their  sci- 


300  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

ence,  their  literature,  their  cultivation  of  the  arts,  their  man- 
ners and  modes  of  life,  were  all  to  his  taste.  There  was  no- 
thing but  the  character  of  the  government  and  the-influence  of 
the  clergy  that  he  seriously  disapproved,  and  these  seemed 
about  to  be  swept  away  by  a  political  revolution.  It  is  not  then 
a  matter  of  wonder  that  his  partiality  for  France  should  have 
been  so  strong,  and  should  have  influenced  his  tastes  and 
opinions  through  the  rest  of  his  life. 

During  his  residence  in  Paris,  his  manner  of  passing  his  time 
exhibited  the  same  habitual  industry,  regularity,  and  attention 
to  method,  by  which  he  had  been  previously  characterized. 
He  was  always  a  very  early  riser,  and  the  whole  morning,  until 
one  o'clock,  was  devoted  to  business,  with  the  exception  of  the 
respite  afforded  by  the  breakfast  table,  at  which  he  frequently 
lingered  to  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  conversation.  He  was  also 
fond  of  riding  on  horseback,  and  occasionally  adopted  that  mode 
of  going  to  Versailles.  In  his  walks,  he  often  rambled  as  far  as 
seven  miles  into  the  country.  It  was  in  one  of  these  walks  that 
he  fractured  his  wrist. 

He  left  Havre  on  the  8th  of  October,  with  his  two  daughters, 
and  on  the  9th  he  crossed  over  to  Cowes,  to  which  he  had  pre- 
viously engaged  a  vessel  to  touch  for  him.  He  was  detained  at 
the  Isle  of  Wight  by  contrary  winds  till  the  22nd.  During  the 
ten  days  he  was  at  Cowes,  he  visited  what  was  most  remarkable 
in  the  Island,  especially  Carisbroke  Castle,  where  Charles  the 
First  had  taken  refuge  in  1648.  Though  he  was  entitled  to  no 
peculiar  privileges  here  as  a  foreign  minister,  yet,  in  conse- 
quence of  a  special  application  to  Mr.  Pitt,  from  Colonel  Trum- 
bull,  who  had  engaged  the  ship  for  him  in  London,  his  baggage, 
by  an  extension  of  the  ordinary  courtesy,  was  exempted  from 
search  by  the  officers  of  the  customs.  His  voyage  across  the 
Atlantic  was  again  prosperous,  and  he  landed  at  Norfolk  in 
thirty  days  after  he  left  Cowes.  But  at  its  termination,  he  nar- 
rowly escaped  more  than  one  serious  disaster.  When  they 
reached  the  coast,  a  thick  mist  completely  shrouded  every  land- 
mark from  their  view;  and  after  they  had  beaten  about  for 
three  days  in  the  hope  of  seeing  a  pilot  boat,  the  captain  boldly 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  301 

ventured  to  run  in,  and  succeeded  in  getting  within  the  capes 
just  in  time  to  escape  being  blown  off  the  coast,  as  happened  to 
several  other  vessels  in  company.  A  few  hours  too,  after  they 
had  landed,  a  fire  broke  out  in  the  ship,  but  after  making  con- 
siderable progress,  was,  by  the  aid  afforded  from  the  other  ships 
in  the  harbour,  extinguished,  and  the  whole  of  Mr.  Jefferson's 
trunks  and  papers  were  saved. 

At  that  time  there  being  but  few  public  houses  in  Norfolk, 
Mr.  Jefferson  and  his  daughters  would  have  found  a  difficulty  in 
procuring  accommodations,  if  some  of  the  lodgers  in  Lindsay's 
hotel  had  not  voluntarily  given  up  their  rooms  to  them.  As 
there  were  no  public  stages,  they  were  indebted  to  their  friends 
for  the  means  of  conveyance  home. 

He  passed  some  days  with  his  friend  and  brother-in-law,  Mr. 
Eppes,  of  Chesterfield.  While  here,  he  received  a  letter  from 
General  Washington,  offering  him  the  place  of  secretary  of 
state. 

Mr.  Jefferson  says  that  he  received  this  offer  with  real  re- 
gret. His  inclinations  led  him  to  return  to  Paris,  now  more 
recommended  to  him  than  ever  by  the  prevalence  of  republi- 
can principles,  and  there  await  the  end  of  the  revolution, 
which  he  candidly  admits,  he  then  thought  "would  be  certainly 
and  happily  closed  in  less  than  a  year."  His  purpose  then  was 
to  return  home,  and,  bidding  adieu  to  politics,  devote  himself  to 
studies  more  congenial  to  his  mind.  In  his  answer  to  General 
Washington,  he  frankly  avows  his  preference  for  the  situation 
he  then  held;  but,  at  the  same  time,  declares  his  readiness  to 
acquiesce  in  the  President's  final  decision,  which  he  requests 
him  to  make  known. 

Continuing  his  journey  from  Eppington,  as  before,  by  easy 
stages,  and  passing  a  few  days  with  such  of  their  friends  as  lived 
on  the  route,  they  reached  Monticello  on  the  23d  of  December. 
The  scene  that  ensued  is  thus  described  by  the  only  survivor  of 
the  party,  and  on  whom,  with  whatever  feelings  of  partiality 
she  may  have  sketched  the  picture,  we  may  confidently  rely 
for  the  truth  of  the  resemblance. 

"The  negroes  discovered  the  approach  of  the  carriage  as 


302  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

soon  as  it  reached  Shadwell,  and  such  a  scene  I  never  witnessed 
in  my  life.  They  collected  in  crowds  around  it,  and  almost 
drew  it  up  the  mountain  by  hand.  The  shouting,  &c.  had 
been  sufficiently  obstreperous  before,  but  the  moment  the  car- 
riage arrived  on  the  top,  it  reached  the  climax.  When  the 
door  of  the  carriage  was  opened,  they  received  him  in  their 
arms,  and  bore  him  into  the  house,  crowding  around,  and  kissing 
his  hands  and  feet— some  blubbering  and  crying — others  laugh- 
ing. It  appeared  impossible  to  satisfy  their  eyes,  or  their 
anxiety  to  touch,  and  even  kiss  the  very  earth  that  bore  him. 
These  were  the  first  ebullitions  of  joy  for  his  return,  after  a 
long  absence,  which  they  would  of  course  feel,  but  it  is  perhaps 
not  out  of  place  to  add  here,  that  they  were,  at  all  times,  very 
devoted  in  their  attachment  to  him.  They  believed  him  to  be 
one  of  the  greatest,  and  they  knew  him  to  be  one  of  the  best  of 
men,  and  kindest  of  masters.  They  spoke  to  him  freely,  and 
applied  confidingly  to  him  in  all  their  difficulties  and  distresses; 
and  he  watched  over  them  in  sickness  and  in  health;  interested 
himself  in  all  their  concerns;  advising  them,  and  showing  esteem 
and  confidence  in  the  good,  and  indulgence  to  all." 

At  Monticello  he  received  a  second  letter  from  the  President, 
urging  his  acceptance,  but,  at  the  same  time,  leaving  him  at 
liberty  to  "follow  his  own  inclinations."  This  course,  he  says, 
silenced  his  objections,  and  he  accepted  the  appointment. 
While  he  remained  at  Monticello,  his  eldest  daughter,  Martha, 
was  married  to  Mr.  Thomas  Mann  Randolph,  a  young  Virginian 
of  great  promise  and  handsome  fortune,  who  had  been  educated 
in  Edinburg,  and  had  seen  Miss  Jefferson  during  a  visit  to  Paris. 
Mr.  Jefferson  continued  at  his  residence  until  the  1st  of  March, 
1 790,  when  he  set  out  for  New  York,  where  the  Congress  was 
about  to  close  its  second  session. 

In  passing  through  Philadelphia  he  called  to  see  his  former 
associate  Dr.  Franklin,  now  sinking  under  the  weight  of  disease 
and  old  age.  The  venerable  philosopher  inquired  with  great 
earnestness  about  the  course  and  the  fate  of  his  numerous 
friends  in  France.  After  a  while  Mr.  Jefferson  spoke  to  Frank- 
lin of  his  biography,  which,  it  was  said,  he  was  employed  in 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  303 

preparing.  "I  cannot  say  much  of  that,"  he  replied,  "but  I  will 
give  you  a  sample  of  what  I  shall  leave,"  and  he  directed  his 
little  grandson,  standing  by  his  bed-side,  to  hand  him  a  paper 
from  the  table  to  which  he  pointed.  He  did  so,  and  Dr.  Frank- 
lin put  the  paper  into  Mr.  Jefferson's  hands,  desiring  him  to  read 
it  at  his  leisure.  It  was  about  a  quire  of  folio  paper,  apparently 
written  in  his  own  hand.  On  Mr.  Jefferson's  saying  he  would 
read  the  paper  and  carefully  return  it,  the  Doctor  insisted  on. 
his  keeping  it.  He  died  on  the  17th  of  the  following  month, 
and  Mr.  Jefferson  understanding  that  he  had  bequeathed  his 
papers  to  his  grandson,  William  Temple  Franklin,  immediately 
informed  this  gentleman  that  this  paper  was  in  his  possession, 
and  that  it  would  be  delivered  to  his  order.  It  was  afterwards 
delivered  to  him  in  person,  at  which  time  Mr.  Franklin  observed 
that  he  had  the  original,  or  another  copy  of  it.  It  then  occurred 
to  Mr.  Jefferson,  for  the  first  time,  that  the  paper  was  intended 
as  a  deposit  in  his  hands. 

The  paper  contained,  Mr.  Jefferson  states,  a  narrative  of  the 
negotiations  between  Dr.  Franklin  and  the  British  ministry, 
before  the  Revolution,  and  is  thus  cited  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  from 
memory: 

"The  negotiation  was  brought  about  by  the  intervention  of 
Lord  Howe  and  his  sister,  who,  I  believe,  was  called  Lady 
Howe,  but  I  may  misremember  her  title.  Lord  Howe  seems 
to  have  been  friendly  to  America,  and  exceedingly  anxious  to 
prevent  a  rupture.  His  intimacy  with  Dr.  Franklin,  and  his 
position  with  the  ministry,  induced  him  to  undertake  a  mediation 
between  them;  in  which  his  sister  seemed  to  have  been  asso- 
ciated. They  carried  from  one  to  the  other,  backwards  and 
forwards,  the  several  propositions  and  answers  which  passed, 
and  seconded  with  their  own  intercessions,  the  importance  of 
mutual  sacrifices,  to  preserve  the  peace  and  connexion  of  the 
two  countries.  I  remember  that  Lord  North's  answers  were 
dry,  unyielding,  in  the  spirit  of  unconditional  submission,  and 
betrayed  an  absolute  indifference  to  the  occurrence  of  a  rup- 
ture; and  he  said  to  the  mediators  distinctly,  at  last,  that  a  're- 
bellion was  not  to  be  deprecated  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain; 


304  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

that  the  confiscations  it  would  produce  would  provide  for  many 
of  their  friends.'  This  expression  was  reported  by  the  media- 
tors to  Dr.  Franklin,  and  indicated  so  cool  and  calculated  a 
purpose  in  the  minority  as  to  render  compromise  hopeless,  and 
the  negotiation  was  discontinued."  Mr.  Jefferson  then  adds,  "if 
this  is  not  among  the  papers  published,  we  ask  what  has  become 
of  it?  I  delivered  it  with  my  own  hands  into  those  of  Temple 
Franklin.  It  certainly  established  views  so  atrocious  in  the 
British  government,  that  its  suppression  would  to  them  be  worth 
a  great  price.  But  could  the  grandson  of  Dr.  Franklin  be  in 
such  degree  an  accomplice  in  the  parricide  of  the  memory  of 
his  immortal  grandfather?  The  suspension  for  more  than  twen- 
ty years  of  the  general  publication  bequeathed  and  confided  to 
him,  produced  for  a  while  hard  suspicions  against  him;  and  if 
at  last  all  are  not  published,  a  part  of  these  suspicions  may  re- 
main with  some." 


305 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

Mr.  Jefferson  arrives  at  New  York.  Sketch  of  parties  after  the  Revo- 
lution. Sense  of  the  necessity  of  union.  Local  jealousies.  Federal- 
ists and  anti-federalists.  Partiality  for  the  British  Constitution. 
Illusions  of  rank.  Mr.  Jefferson's  sentiments.  Proceedings  of  the 
first  Congress.  Impost.  Permanent  seat  of  government.  Mr.  Hamil- 
ton's report  on  public  credit.  Discrimination  in  favour  of  the  origi- 
nal public  creditors  proposed  by  Mr.  Madison.  Arguments  for  and 
against  it.  Public  opinion  on  the  question.  Assumption  of  state 
debts.  Mr.  Jefferson's  impressions  of  the  arguments  urged  for  and 
against  the  assumption.  The  proposition  rejected.  Mr.  Jefferson 
joins  in  affecting  a  compromise.  Merits  of  the  question.  Local  divi- 
sion of  the  parties. 

1790. 

MR.  JEFFERSON  arrived  at  New  York  on  the  21st  of  March, 
and  here  commenced  a  new  and  important  epoch  of  his  life. 
From  this  time,  until  he  retired  from  public  affairs,  in  March, 
1809,  a  period  of  nineteen  years,  his  history  is  closely  connected 
with  the  history  of  his  country;  and  it  is  emphatically  and  com- 
pletely a  history  of  the  political  parties  into  which  that  country 
has  been  divided.* 

*  In  delineating  the  character  of  these  parties,  as  the  biography  he  has 
undertaken  requires  him  to  do,  the  author  is  aware  of  the  difficulty  of  his 
undertaking.  He  knows  that  after  the  outward  acts  of  men  have  been 
fully  and  accurately  ascertained,  the  views  and  motives  of  the  actors, 
which  form  a  most  important  class  of  facts,  are  often  shrouded  in  dark- 
ness and  uncertainty;  and  that  where  they  admit  of  different  interpreta- 
tions, as  they  often  do,  they  will  be  thus  differently  interpreted,  according 
to  the  prepossessions  of  each  individual.  He  is  aware  too  that  our  peculiar 
views  and  feelings  commonly  give  a  colouring  to  our  opinions  of  men's 
motives,  and  that  he  cannot  presume  himself  exempt  from  this  bias.  He 
VOL.  I.— 39 


306  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

In  the  same  degree  that  the  private  citizen  takes  an  interest 
in  the  public  concerns,  and  can  express  his  opinions  with  im- 
punity, there  will  be  political  parties;  and  whatever  may  be  the 
inconveniences  of  the  civil  strife  they  occasion,  it  must  be  con- 
sidered as  inseparably  connected  with  civil  liberty.  It  is  true, 
that  where  there  is  a  lively  sense  of  common  danger,  party  con- 
tentions, for  a  time,  yield  to  a  sense  of  the  necessity  of  co-opera- 
tion, and  to  the  anxiety  felt  for  the  common  interest.  But,  at 
all  other  times,  questions  of  public  concern  are  certain  to  divide 
the  citizens  of  free  countries  into  two  angry  and  hostile  com- 
munities. On  these  occasions,  pride,  interest,  vanity,  resent- 
ment, gratitude — every  passion,  in  short,  finds  room  for  exercise, 
and  contributes  its  part  to  irritate  and  prolong  the  controversy. 

As  soon  as  the  thirteen  colonies  had  formed  themselves  into 
one  nation,  having  the  same  general  interests,  they  furnished  an- 
other example  of  this  portion  of  human  destiny,  which  even  the 
sense  of  common  danger  and  the  aspirations  after  the  common 
blessing  of  independence  could  check,  but  was  not  able  alto- 
gether to  extinguish.  Thus,  in  the  beginning  of  the  Revolu- 
tion there  was  the  division  of  whig  and  tory,  on  the  question  of 
submission  or  resistance.  Then  arose  that  of  independence  or 
qualified  submission.  When  the  nation  had  become  almost 
unanimous  on  this  question,  parties  were  formed  as  different  men 
were  well  or  ill-disposed  towards  General  Washington,  or  as  they 
differed  about  the  mode  of  conducting  the  war,  or  the  agents 
who  should  be  employed  abroad.*  But  after  the  war  of  the 
Revolution  was  at  an  end,  and  men's  minds  were  turned  to  the 
subject  how  they  might  best  improve  the  right  of  self-govern- 
ment, party  spirit  took  another  direction,  and  assumed  a  new 

will,  however,  be  on  his  guard  against  this  influence,  and  in  passing  judg- 
ment on  the  questions  which  once  so  deeply  agitated  the  minds  of  the 
American  people,  he  will,  besides  endeavouring  to  do  justice  to  all,  state 
the  reasons  of  his  opinions,  that  the  influence  of  any  lurking  prejudice  or 
party  sympathy,  if  it  actually  exist,  may  be  more  easily  detected. 

*  There  had  also  arisen  questions  about  the  apportionment  of  taxes 
among  the  states;  about  every  state  having  an  equal  vote^  and  about  the 
right  to  the  western  lands,  which  had  all,  for  a  time,  divided  Congress 
into  two  great  parties. 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  307 

aspect.  One  of  the  first,  as  well  as  most  interesting  occasions 
for  a  difference  of  opinion  which  presented  itself,  was  the  pre- 
cise character  of  the  political  connexion  which  should  exist 
among  the  several  states,  which  had,  by  a  joint  effort  and  a 
common  triumph,  effected  a  separation  from  their  European 
rulers.  Every  reflecting  mind  believed  that  a  confederate  go- 
vernment of  some  sort  was  indispensable  to  their  future  safety 
and  prosperity.  Such  a  one  would  learn  from  all  history  that 
neighbouring  states  would  be  exposed  to  perpetual  disagree- 
ments and  quarrels,  which  would  soon  or  late  terminate  in  war, 
by  the  chances  of  which  some  of  the  parties  would  be  vanquish- 
ed and  subjugated,  and  when  the  conquerors  would  purchase 
the  triumphs  of  victory  at  the  price  of  burdensome  taxes,  mili- 
tary services,  and  finally  the  loss  of  civil  freedom.  Nor  did  any 
one  form  of  government  afford  a  security  against  such  quarrels 
and  conflicts.  The  history  of  republics  attested  the  warring 
propensities  of  our  nature  as  much  as  any  other  sort  of  govern- 
ment. It  was  then  obviously  wise  to  form  that  species  of  politi- 
cal union  among  the  several  states  which  would  keep  down 
insurrections  and  civil  strife/and  enable  them,  in  their  common 
relations  with  foreign  countries,  to  prosecute  with  more  effect 
their  negotiations  in  peace,  and  their  operations  in  war. 

Besides  these  general  speculations  in  favour  of  a  political 
union,  there  was  another  consideration  which  had  a  more  gene- 
ral and  immediate  operation,  because  it  was  felt  as  well  as 
seen.  The  people  had  practically  experienced,  since  the  peace, 
the  inconvenience  of  so  many  independent  sovereignties,  in  their 
conflicting  regulations  of  foreign  trade.  The  benefits  to  be  de- 
rived from  the  union  were  the  greater,  from  the  fact  that  one 
division  of  the  states  was  agricultural  in  its  pursuits,  and  the 
other  commercial.  We  had  been  accustomed  to  derive  our 
principal  manufactures  from  Europe,  and  to  find  there  a  market 
for  the  redundant  products  of  our  agriculture.  By  means  of 
this  exchange,  we  equally  profited  by  our  own  abundance  and 
the  cheapness  of  foreign  fabrics.  Every  state  then,  as  soon  as 
it  was  free  to  act,  sought  to  appropriate  as  much  of  this  advan- 
tage to  itself  as  it  could.  It  endeavoured  to  enlarge  its  foreign 


308  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

commerce,  and  by  subjecting  its  imports  to  a  duty,  was  able  to 
levy  a  tax  on  those  states  which  received  goods  through  its 
ports.  In  this  way,  New  York  derived  revenue  from  a  part  of 
Connecticut  and  Massachusetts;  Virginia,  from  North  Carolina; 
South  Carolina,  from  the  same  state  and  from  Georgia.  Besides, 
if  some  states,  by  an  impost  attempted  to  raise  a  revenue,  or  to 
discourage  the  consumption  of  foreign  merchandise,  for  the  sake 
of  fostering  its  own  manufactures,  its  purposes  could  be  easily 
counteracted  by  the  lower  impost  of  its  neighbours,  through 
whose  ports  foreign  commodities,  subjected  to  a  higher  duty, 
would  find  their  way  to  the  remotest  corner  of  its  territory;  and 
thus,  while  one  state  complained  of  the  tribute  extorted  from 
her  by  a  neighbouring  state,  another  felt  itself  no  less  aggrieved 
by  the  underbidding  policy  of  its  rival. 

With  such  strong  inducements  for  a  united  government,  it 
is  no  wonder  that  the  belief  of  its  necessity  was  very  prevalent. 
But  about  the  character  of  the  confederacy  men  were  much 
divided;  and  some  saw,  or  thought  they  saw,  in  too  close  a  union, 
dangers  as  great,  and  consequences  as  distasteful,  as  in  their 
entire  separation.  It  was  believed  by  many  that  the  territorial 
extent  of  the  country,  and  the  great  diversity  of  character, 
habits,  and  pursuits,  among  the  several  states,  presented  insu- 
perable obstacles  to  a  closer  union  than  already  existed — some 
states  being  addicted  to  commerce,  and  others  exclusively  agri- 
cultural; some  having  domestic  slavery  entwined  in  their  civil 
polity,  and  others  free  from  that  institution  and  averse  to  it. 
With  such  serious  points  of  diversity,  it  was  insisted  that  their 
affairs  could  be  well  managed  by  no  single  government,  and 
could  not  be  administered  at  all,  but  by  a  greater  delegation 
of  power  than  suited  the  feelings  and  opinions  of  the  Ameri- 
can people.  Some  then  looked  most  at  these  apprehended  con- 
sequences of  a  close  union  and  a  single  government,  while  others 
chiefly  regarded  the  dangers  arising  from  disunion,  domestic 
dissentions,  and  even  war.  One  party  accordingly  dreaded  con- 
solidation; the  other,  anarchy  and  separation.  Each  saw  in 
the  object  of  its  dread  the  destruction  of  good  government, 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  309 

though  one  party  looked  too  exclusively  to  its  characteristic  of 
order,  and  the  other  to  that  of  civil  liberty. 

Such  were  the  feelings  of  the  great  mass  of  the  people;  and 
it  was  to  their  sentiments,  thus  differing,  but  all  equally  honest, 
that  the  politicians  addressed  themselves.  Without  doubt  there 
mingled  with  these  sentiments  other  feelings  which  served  to 
inflame  the  controversy.  There  had  always  existed  in  most  of 
the  colonies  a  certain  degree  of  prejudice  against  the  people  of 
other  colonies,  whose  manners  and  habits  were  different  from 
.their  own;  and  those  who  now  felt  this  prejudice  most  strongly, 
to  whatever  state  they  belonged,  were  more  unwilling  to  sub- 
ject themselves  to  the  control  of  a  general  government.  The 
obvious  necessity  of  harmony  in  their  united  efforts  to  obtain 
political  independence,  and  the  good  feelings  which  a  sense  of 
common  danger  and  endeavours  for  a  common  good  naturally 
inspire,  suppressed  these  jealousies  for  a  time  among  the  leaders 
of  the  revolution.  But  in  those  who  felt  a  less  lofty  or  ardent 
patriotism,  or  whose  jealousies  were  more  easily  excited,  these 
local  antipathies  and  prejudices  were  discernible  even  at  the 
most  critical  periods  of  the  revolution. 

There  was  also  a  fear  with  some  individuals  that  their  per- 
sonal consequence  would  be  lessened,  when  theihigher  attributes 
of  sovereignty  should  be  transferred  from  the  separate  states  to  a 
national  government.  They  seemed  to  feel  the  force  of  the  re- 
mark made  by  James  the  First  to  induce  his  nobles  to  remain  in 
the  country  in  preference  to  coming  to  the  metropolis,  that  "on 
their  estates  they  were  like  great  ships  in  a  river,  while  in  London 
they  were  the  same  ships  in  the  sea."  On  the  other  hand,  they 
who  were  apprehensive  of  violence  and  disorder,  thought  they 
saw  more  security  against  those  evils  in  a  general  government 
than  in  one  in  which  individual  popularity  or  local  discontent 
would  have  so  much  more  influence.  Their  previous  military 
habits  too  inclined  some  to  a  government  in  which  there  would 
be  more  pomp,  where  authority  would  command  more  respect, 
an7  possess  a  more  ready  means  of  enforcing  obedience.  The 
officers  and  soldiers,  moreover,  would  consider  their  claims 
against  the  country  more  likely  to  be  discharged,  when  the 


310  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

government  to  which  they  were  preferred  should  be  invested 
with  the  means  of  providing  for  them:  and  the  difficulty  which 
the  existing  government  had  experienced  of  paying  the  public 
creditors  in  Europe,  made  all  those  who  regarded  either  the 
gratitude  or  faith  of  the  nation,  also  desirous  of  a  system  of  go- 
vernment which  alone  could  be  certain  to  raise  an  adequate 
revenue  for  that  object. 

Of  this  description  were  the  sentiments  and  motives  on  the 
subject  of  a  national  government  which  floated  in  men's  minds 
for  three  or  four  years  after  the  peace  of  1783.  But  when 
they  had  produced  a  general  convention,  for  the  purpose  of 
forming  a  constitution,  the  community  settled  down  into  two 
great  parties  of  federalists  and  anti-federalists;  the  first  believing 
that  the  most  imminent  danger  to  our  peace  and  prosperity  was 
in  disunion;  and  that  popular  jealousy,  always  of  itself  sufficiently 
active,  would,  when  artfully  inflamed  by  ambitious  demagogues, 
withhold  that  portion  of  power  which  was  essential  to  good 
order  and  rational  safety:  the  last  believing  that  the  danger 
most  to  be  apprehended  was  in  too  close  a  union,  and  that  their 
most  powerful  opponents  wished  a  consolidated,  and  even  a  mo- 
narchical government. 

This  imputation  of  the  anti-federal  party  against  their  leading 
adversaries,  that  they  were  desirous  of  paving  the  way  for  a 
monarchy,  has  been  strenuously  denied  by  the  federalists,  and 
it  is  one  among  those  points  on  which  the  two  parties  have  most 
warmly  disputed.  Mr.  Jefferson  was  one  of  those  who  gave 
credit  to  the  charge;  and  in  the  latter  period  of  his  life,  when 
he  considered  that  all  his  party  feelings  had  passed  away,  and 
when  they  unquestionably  must  have  greatly  abated,  he  revises 
the  evidence  which  he  had  formerly  collected  on  this  subject, 
and  rejecting  that  part  which  further  experience  and  cooler 
views  had  disapproved,  he  still  maintains  thai  some  of  our  prin- 
cipal politicians,  at  the  time  the  constitution  was  formed,  gave 
a  deliberate  preference  to  monarchical  government.  The  tes- 
timony adduced  by  Mr.  Jefferson  on  the  subject,  if  credited, 
must  be  deemed  conclusive;  and  it  certainly  has  not  that  intrinsic 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  311 

improbability  which  would  warrant  us  in  rejecting  it,  if  we 
transport  ourselves  back  to  the  times  of  which  we  speak. 

Men's  minds  have  undergone  a  great  change  upon  the  subject 
of  government  since  that  day.  It  must  not  be  overlooked  that 
the  history  of  the  world  had  furnished  no  examples  of  popular 
government,  except  those  which  suggested  to  most  men  as  many 
arguments  against  them  as  in  their  favour.  It  was  therefore 
a  prevalent  opinion  among  speculative  writers,  particularly 
those  of  England,  that  no  government  more  popular  than  that 
of  their  own  country  was  consistent  either  with  internal  tran- 
quillity, the  supremacy  of  the  "laws,  or  an  extensive  empire. 
The  constitution  of  that  country  was  accordingly  regarded  as 
the  best  which  had  ever  existed.  The  writings  of  Montesquieu, 
and  De  Lolme,  together  with  the  ingenious  and  masterly  eulogy 
of  Blackstone,  had  rendered  this  almost  the  universal  opinion  of 
the  scholar,  the  lawyer,  and  speculative  reasoner  in  England 
and  her  dependencies,  as  well  as  the  general  sentiment  of  pa- 
triotism. When  then  the  confederate  states  were  about  to 
enter  on  the  experiment  of  a  permanent  constitution  of  govern- 
ment, these  preconceived  opinions  would  naturally  exert  an 
influence,  and  those  who  entertained  them  would  be  led  to  in- 
quire how  far  the  same  benefits  were  attainable  by  us.  They 
would  of  course  know  that  there  were  no  materials  in  this 
country  whereof  to  form  either  kings  or  nobles;  since  as  there 
had  always  existed  a  perfect  equality  of  civil  rights,  there  would 
be  an  invincible  repugnance  to  a  privileged  class  and  hereditary 
distinctions.  Yet  some  may  have  indulged  the  hope  that  the 
prejudices  which  could  not  be  instantaneously  overcome  might 
be  sapped  by  degrees;  and  thus  the  minds  of  our  citizens  be 
reconciled  in  time  to  that  form  of  government,  and  to  those 
civil  institutions  which  they  deemed  essential  to  stability. 

The  prestige  of  rank  too  was  somewhat  greater  with  some  in 
this  country,  in  consequence  of  our  never  having  had  a  nobility. 
Our  people  knowing  nothing  of  these  privileged  orders,  except 
as  exhibited  in  works  of  fiction,  or  in  the  occasional  details  of  a 
newspaper,  saw  them  through  the  magnifying  process  of  the 


312  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON1. 

imagination,  and  thus  conceived  for  them  a  degree  of  homage 
and  respect  which  the  reality  would  not  have  inspired. 

But,  in  addition  to  the  probability  of  those  opinions  deduced 
from  general  reasoning,  we  have  the  direct  evidence  of  many 
facts  to  shew  that  a  kindred  desire  of  the  artificial  distinctions 
of  rank  prevailed.  Of  this  character  were  the  fondness  with 
which  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati  clung  to  that  institution, 
and  the  reluctance  with  which  they  relinquished  the  hereditary 
principle:  the  actual  attempt  to  bestow  a  titular  dignity  on 
the  office  of  President:  the  further  attempts  to  make  a  distinction 
between  the  members  of  the  Senate  and  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, both  as  to  their  daily  compensation  and  the  style  of 
their  address:*  the  imitation  of  regal  forms,  so  far  as  public 
opinion  would  tolerate  them,  in  the  President's  morning  levees; 
in  his  opening  speeches  at  each  session  of  Congress;  and  in  the 
ceremonial  adopted  when  he  appeared  in  public;  and  lastly,  the 
fact  that  at  a  ball  in  New  York,  a  raised  seat,  obviously  and  pur- 
posely having  an  analogy  to  a  throne,  was  prepared  for  the  Pre- 
sident and  Mrs.  Washington.  Besides,  the  predilections  of  Alexan- 
der Hamilton  for  a  monarchical  government  were  well  known.f 

*  Some  of  the  journals  of  the  day  in  the  northern  states,  not  satisfied 
with  bestowing  the  gratuitous  title  of  "honourable"  on  the  members  of 
the  house  of  representatives,  affected  to  style  the  members  of  the  senate 
"most  honourable."  Nay,  some  went  so  far  as  to  extend  this  distinction 
to  the  wives  of  the  members,  as  "the  most  honourable  Mrs.  A."  and  "the 
honourable  Mrs.  B." 

fThe  opinions  which  Mr.  Jefferson  imputed  to  Mr.  Hamilton  have 
been  frequently  called  in  question  by  some  of  Mr.  Hamilton's  admirers, 
for  the  double  purpose  of  screening  him  and  his  political  adherents  from 
the  popular  odium  attached  to  those  sentiments,  and  of  casting  on  Mr. 
Jefferson  the  reproach  of  uttering  an  unfounded  slander  against  an  ad- 
versary. But  they  thus  aim  at  a  concealment  of  his  opinions,  which  his 
own  frank  and  proud  spirit  disdained.  Those  opinions  are  well  known  to 
all  his  associates,  and  they  who  may  refuse  to  abide  by  the  testimony  of 
a  rival  and  an  opponent,  cannot  reject  that  of  a  personal  and  party 
friend,  as  was  Mr.  Gouverneur  Morris. 

In  a  letter  from  Mr.  Morris  to  Mr.  Walsh,  of  Philadelphia,  in  a  sketch 
of  the  political  character  of  Hamilton,  he  says:  "  General  Hamilton  hated 
republican  government,  because  he  confounded  it  with  democratic  go- 
vernment, and  he  detested  the  latter,  because  he  believed  it  must  end 
in  despotism,  and  be,  in  the  mean  time,  destructive  of  morality."  And 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFEKSON.  313 

With  his  usual  frankness  he  did  not  disguise  them  from  his 
friends;  and  it  furnished  a  fair  presumption  that  those  who  ad- 
mired him  as  a  politician,  and  supported  all  his  measures,  could 
not  have  strongly  objected  to  his  principles.  If  they  had,  how- 
ever they  may  have  esteemed  the  talents  and  virtues  of  the 
individual,  for  they  were  many,  they  would  have  opposed  those 
plans  which  had  an  obvious  tendency  to  favour  the  augmenta- 
tion of  executive  power,  and  which  there  was  reason  to  suppose 
constituted  with  him  their  strongest  recommendation. 

Such  we  can  easily  suppose  to  have  been  the  views  of  Mr. 
Hamilton,  Mr.  Adams,  and  a  large  proportion  of  those  whose 
opinions  on  government  had  been  formed  before  the  revolution. 
But  the  speculations  on  political  rights,  to  which  the  contest 
with  Great  Britain  and  the  question  of  independence  gave  rise, 
greatly  favoured  the  doctrines  of  political  equality  and  the 
hatred  of  power,  in  any  form  that  could  control  the  public  will. 
There  are  in  the  heart  of  every  man  principles  which  readily 
prepare  him  for  republican  doctrines,  and,  after  a  few  years, 
some  of  the  speculative  politicians  began  to  think  that  the  free, 
simple,  and  equal  government,  which  was  suited  to  the  tastes 
and  habits  of  our  people,  was  also  the  best  in  theory.  But  they 
were  jealous  of  the  opposite  opinion,  from  a  consciousness  of  the 
revolution  their  own  minds  had  experienced,  and  the  known 
prevalence  of  the  favourable  opinion  which  was  generally  en- 
tertained of  the  English  government. 

Thus,  while  the  great  body  of  the  people  were  partial  to  the 
form  of  government  to  which  they  had  been  accustomed,  and 

subsequently:  "But  although  General  Hamilton  knew  these  things  ['that 
no  monarchy  could  be  established  but  by  the  mob']  from  the  study  of  his- 
tory, he  never  failedon  every  occasion  to  advocate  the  excellence  of,  and 
avow  his  attachment  to,  monarchical  government." 

The  same  gentleman  writes  to  Mr.  Aaron  Ogden,  December  28,  1804, 
a  few  months  after  General  Hamilton's  death:  "Our  poor  friend  Hamil- 
ton bestrode  his  hobby  to  the  great  annoyance  of  his  friends,  and  not 
without  injury  to  himself.  More  a  theoretic  than  a  practical  man,  he 
was  not  sufficiently  convinced  that  a  system  may  be  good  in  itself,  and 
bad  in  relation  to  particular  circumstances.  He  well  knew  that  his  fa- 
vourite form  was  inadmissible,  unless  as  the  result  of  civil  war,"  &c. 

Life  of  G.  Morris,  Vol.  III. 
VOL.  I.— 40 


314  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFEKSON. 

dreamt  of  no  other,  the  leading  statesmen  did  differ  on  this 
point;  some  preferring  the  republican  form  in  theory,  and  be- 
lieving that  no  other  would  be  tolerated  in  practice;  and  others 
regretting  that  they  were  obliged  to  yield  so  far  to  popular  pre- 
judice as  to  forego  the  form  they  deemed  the  best,  but  deter- 
mined to  avail  themselves  of  every  opportunity  of  improving 
the  existing  government  into  that  form.  Nor  were  they  without 
hopes  that,  by  siding  with  the  general  government  in  every 
question  of  power  between  that  and  the  separate  states,  and 
with  the  executive  in  all  questions  between  that  and  the  legis- 
lature, and  by  continually  increasing  the  patronage  of  the  exe- 
cutive by  means  of  an  army,  a  navy,  and  the  multiplication  of 
civil  offices,  they  would  ultimately  obtain  their  object. 

There  were  strong  reasons  why  Mr.  Jefferson's  sentiments 
should  be  of  an  opposite  character.  He  had  always  been  among 
the  foremost  of  his  countrymen  in  favour  of  popular  rights;  and 
when  these  became  fashionable  in  Paris,  and  were  there  recom- 
mended by  wit  and  genius — were  advocated  by  philosophers, 
and  even  by  ladies,  and  many  of  the  courtiers — all  his  partiali- 
ties for  that  imposing  metropolis,  and  its  gay  and  cultivated  so- 
ciety, gave  new  force  to  his  republican  zeal.  When  he  returned 
to  America  he  found  its  politicians  even  then  differing  in  their 
views  of  the  incipient  revolution  in  France.  Some  already 
regarded  it  with  distrust,  and  prognosticated  evil  from  the  vio- 
lence and  excesses  with  which  it  had  been  recently  accom- 
panied. These  persons  were  the  party  who  were  most  liberally 
disposed  towards  England.  Mr.  Jefferson's  resentment  towards 
that  country,  which  neither  his  mission  to  France  nor  the  illi- 
beral commercial  policy  of  England  herself  had  suffered  him  to 
weaken,  still  further  inclined  him  to  take  a  different  side  from 
her  partizans,  and  this  circumstance  might  have  influenced  his 
course,  if  that  had  not  been  already  decided  by  his  attachment 
to  liberal  principles. 

The  first  Congress  under  the  new  constitution  assembled  at 
New  York  on  the  1st  day  of  April,  1789,  and  continued  in  ses- 
sion till  the  29th  of  September  following.  It  is  from  the  dis- 
cussions of  a  body  thus  constituted  that  the  historian  can  learn 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  315 

the  form  and  pressure  of  the  times,  whether  it  merely  reflects 
the  sentiments  of  its  constituents,  or,  as  is  sometimes  the  case, 
gives  to  them  their  first  impulse.  In  the  deliberations  of  this 
body  it  is  easy  to  see  in  embryo  those  local  and  political  divi- 
sions which  have  since  so  agitated  and  distracted  the  country, 
and  which,  for  good  or  for  evil,  seem  likely  to  continue  to  be 
the  grounds  of  party  distinction  among  us. 

On  two  of  the  most  interesting  subjects  discussed,  the  mem- 
bers seem  to  have  been  governed  altogether  by  local  considera- 
tions: these  were  the  impost,  and  the  selection  of  a  spot  for  the 
permanent  seat  of  government.  In  providing  an  adequate  reve- 
nue, it  was  admitted  on  all  sides  that  no  mode  was  as  eligible 
as  by  laying  duties  on  imports;  but  in  selecting  the  objects  of 
duty,  and  determining  its  amount,  it  was  soon  found  that  there 
was  a  conflict  of  interests  and  wishes  between  the  two  great 
divisions  of  the  union.  The  northern  states  having  already  suc- 
ceeded in  manufacturing  some  articles,  both  for  themselves  and 
the  southern  states,  would  be  obviously  benefitted  by  taxing 
similar  articles  imported  from  abroad,  by  way  of  securing  to 
themselves  a  greater  share  of  the  home  market;  while  the  last 
mentioned  states,  being  exclusively  agricultural,  and  conse- 
quently mere  consumers,  had  as  direct  an  interest  in  keeping 
open  the  competition  between  foreign  and  domestic  producers. 
This  collision  of  interests  manifested  itself  in  laying  duties  on 
iron,  salt,  and  foreign  tonnage;  but  in  nothing  was  it  so  apparent 
as  in  laying  the  duty  on  molasses,  which  was  opposed  by  the 
eastern  states,  not  only  because  that  commodity  had  a  more 
extensive  consumption  in  those  states,  but  also  because  it  fur- 
nished the  great  material  for  their  distilleries.  Notwithstand- 
ing this  clashing  of  interests,  which  appears  to  have  been  as 
plainly  seen  then  as  since,  the  whole  subject  was  adjusted  in  a 
liberal  spirit  of  compromise.  The  southern  states  acquiesced 
in  a  system  of  duties  that  encouraged  manufactures  at  a  cost 
of  which  they  pay  more  than  their  just  proportion,  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  manufacture  of  rum  was  virtually  taxed  in  the 
tax  on  molasses.  The  other  local  question,  which  was  brought 
forward  near  the  end  of  the  session,  called  forth  much  more 


316  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

lively  feeling.  Various  spots,  from  the  Delaware  to  the  Poto- 
mac, were  proposed  as  the  seat  of  the  federal  government.  A 
majority  at  length  united  in  favour  of  a  site  on  the  banks  of  the 
Susquehanna,  but  the  bill  they  passed  was  postponed  in  the 
Senate. 

The  subjects  which  farther  excited  the  most  interest  and 
debate,  seemed  to  turn  on  those  principles  that  had  already 
divided  the  federalists  and  their  opponents  when  the  constitu- 
tion was  under  consideration.  While  one  party  was  disposed 
to  carry  into  execution  all  the  powers  which  the  constitution 
had  conferred,  and  to  make  a  liberal  interpretation  of  those 
powers,  the  other  construed  every  grant  of  power  with  the 
utmost  strictness,  and  were  more  particularly  jealous  of  the 
federal  executive.  As  not  one  third  of  the  members  had  be- 
longed to  the  anti-federal  party,  they  were  uniformly  outvoted 
on  all  these  questions.  If  their  more  ardent  love  of  civil  liberty, 
or  their  greater  confidence  in  popular  government  made  them 
sometimes  apprehend  dangers  which  subsequent  experience 
has  shown  to  be  imaginary,  as  from  the  establishment  of  federal 
District  courts,  or  from  the  authority  given  to  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  to  prepare  plans  of  finance,  yet,  in  other  cases, 
their  fears  of  future  evil  have  not  proved  unfounded:  and  it 
must  be  confessed,  that  the  course  pursued  by  the  federal  party 
was  not  ill-calculated  to  alarm  their  fears,  and  awaken  their 
jealousy  of  a  too  energetic  government.  They  thought  they 
saw,  in  the  attempt  of  the  Senate  to  bestow  the  title  of  "his 
Highness1'  on  the  President,  a  predilection  for  the  distinctions 
of  rank;  and  in  their  requiring  that  all  process  from  the  federal 
courts  should  run  in  the  name  of  the  President,  a  disposition  to 
assimilate  his  office  to  that  of  a  sovereign  prince.  Even  the 
difference  in  the  pay  of  the  members  of  the  two  houses,  which 
the  representatives,  after  resisting,  finally  submitted  to,  for  one 
session,  seemed  more  consistent  with  the  spirit  of  aristocracy 
than  the  equality  of  rights  in  a  republic.  Although,  on  these 
questions,  men  were  found  for  and  against  them  in  every  divi- 
sion of  the  union,  yet  a  decisive  majority  of  their  supporters 
were  north  of  the  Potomac.  At  the  second  session  of  the  same 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  317 

Congress,  which  commenced  on  the  4th  of  January,  1790,  Mr. 
Hamilton,  in  pursuance  of  a  resolution  of  the  preceding  session, 
reported  a  plan  for  the  support  of  public  credit,  which  excited 
a  far  greater  interest  than  any  previous  subject  of  discussion, 
and  which  laid  the  foundation  for  a  new  division  of  parties  that 
continued  throughout  the  first  and  the  three  succeeding  ad- 
ministrations. 

This  report,  to  which  both  the  friends  and  enemies  of  its 
author  have  concurred  in  giving  celebrity,  after  insisting  on  the 
advantages  of  public  credit  to  every  country,  and  especially 
one  so  inadequately  supplied  with  capital  as  this,  maintained 
that  the  United  States  were  bound  to  provide  for  the  payment 
of  their  public  debt  by  the  strongest  considerations  of  justice 
and  national  faith,  as  well  as  of  policy;  and  that  they  were  as 
much  bound  to  pay  the  interest  as  the  principal.  The  report, 
then  adverting  to  the  fact  that  many  of  the  holders  of  the  evi- 
dences of  the  debt  had  purchased  them  for  a  fourth  or  fifth  of 
their  nominal  value,  examined  the  question  whether  any  discri- 
mination should  be  made  between  such  purchasers  of  the  debt 
and  the  original  creditors;  and  ks  author  was  clearly  of  opinion, 
that  no  discrimination  could  be  made  without  a  breach  of  pub- 
lic faith,  and  even  lessening  the  value  of  the  debts  still  remain- 
ing in  the  hands  of  the  original  holders.  He  thought  too,  that 
the  debts  contracted  by  the  individual  states  on  account  of  the 
Revolution,  ought  to  be  assumed  by  the  federal  government. 
The  whole  of  the  debts  which  he  thus  proposed  to  provide 
for,  including  arrears  of  interest,  amounted  to  about  80  millions 
of  dollars.  Of  which,  about  12  millions  was  due  in  Europe,  42 
millions  to  domestic  creditors  of  the  United  States,  and  25  mil- 
lions to  the  creditors  of  the  individual  states.  The  annual  in- 
terest on  the  whole  amounted  to  about  4^  millions. 

Believing  that  this  sum,  in  addition  to  the  current  expenses 
of  the  government,  would  press  heavily  on  the  resources  of  the 
country,  he  proposed  to  lessen  the  part  due  to  the  domestic 
creditors,  by  offering  them  a  satisfactory  equivalent. 

The  equivalent  to  be  thus  offered  was  founded  on  the  sup- 
posed future  decline  of  interest,  or  the  profits  of  capital.  Hav- 


318  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

ing  shown  that  the  interest  of  money  which  was  now  6  per 
cent.,  might  be  reasonably  expected  to  fall  here,  as  it  had 
fallen  in  Europe,  he  inferred  that  in  five  years  the  United 
States  would  probably  be  able  to  borrow  at  5  per  cent,  and  in 
fifteen  years  more,  at  4  per  cent.  In  this  event,  the  govern- 
ment would  be  able  to  make  a  proportional  annual  saving,  by 
paying  off  the  debt  with  the  money  obtained  by  a  new  loan. 

If,  however,  the  government  should  engage  to  forbear  thus 
to  profit  bv  the  fall  of  interest,  and  to  postpone  the  redemption 
of  its  debt  for  a  stipulated  time,  the  creditor,  whose  stock  bear- 
ing a  fixed  interest,  must  rise  in  value  with  the  general  fall  of 
interest,  would  be  proportionally  benefitted  by  the  postpone- 
ment. The  secretary,  therefore,  proposed  to  stipulate  for  such 
postponement,  in  consideration  of  the  creditors  agreeing  to  take 
either  a  smaller  amount  of  principal,  or  a  smaller  rate  of  in- 
terest. In  addition  to  the  relief  to  be  thus  obtained,  he  further 
proposed  to  pay  a  portion  of  the  debt  in  the  public  lands,  at  the 
moderate  price  of  20  cents  the  acre;  and,  to  accommodate  his 
plan  to  the  various  circumstances  and  tempers  of  different  classes 
of  creditors,  he  proposed  to  them  several  alternatives,  by  which 
they  might  either  take  a  part  of  their  debt  in  lands,  or  a  higher 
present  interest,  subject  to  redemption  at  any  time,  or  a  less 
interest,  irredeemable  for  a  fixed  term,  or  be  paid  in  annuities 
to  commence  at  a  distant  day.  He  further  proposed,  to  make 
provision  for  such  as  would  not  accede  to  these  terms,  by  an 
interest  not  exceeding  4  per  cent,  on  the  whole  debt. 

By  way  of  providing  the  revenue  which  would  be  thus  re- 
quired, the  report  recommended  a  tariff  of  duties  on  imported 
wines,  spirits,  tea,  and  coffee,  and  an  excise  on  home  distilled 
spirits;  and  lastly,  he  proposed  that  a  sinking  fund  to  the  amount 
of  a  million,  annually,  should  be  created  for  the  gradual  extinc- 
tion of  the  debt. 

The  house  having  entered  on  the  discussion  of  this  report  on 
the  28th  of  January,  it  appeared  to  call  forth  no  material  op- 
position, except  on  two  points:  one  was,  the  proposed  discrimi- 
nation between  the  original  creditors  and  the  purchasers  of  the 
debt;  the  other,  the  assumption  of  the  state  debts. 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEKFEKSON.  319 

After  much  desultory  debate,  on  the  llth  of  February,  Mr. 
Madison  proposed  that  where  the  public  securities  had  been 
alienated,  the  present  holders  should  receive  the  highest  market 
price  of  such  securities,  and  the  residue  should  be  paid  to  the 
original  proprietors.  In  support  of  his  motion,  he  maintained 
that  the  government  which  had  failed  to  pay  its  creditors,  ac- 
cording to  its  most  solemn  engagements,  was  bound  to  compen- 
sate them  for  the  loss  they  had  sustained  by  reason  of  such 
failure.  That  this  obligation  of  faith  and  justice  was  enhanced 
by  the  meritorious  character  of  the  services  rendered:  that,  as 
the  certificates  given  to  the  creditors  were  made  transferable, 
the  holder  had  also  a  claim  founded  on  this  public  pledge,  which 
neither  honour  nor  policy  would  allow  them  to  disregard:  that 
while  it  was  beyond  the  means  of  the  nation  to  satisfy  both 
these  claims,  it  should  do  justice  as  far  as  it  was  able,  and  pay 
to  the  purchaser  a  price  which  would  in  general  yield  him  a 
handsome  profit,  and  pay  to  the  original  creditors  the  residue, 
which,  though  not  sufficient  to  indemnify  them,  would  make 
them  some  reparation  for  their  past  privations.  He  said,  that 
the  ordinary  maxims  of  right  did  not  apply  to  a  case  like  the 
present;  and  that  the  fluctuations  of  stock  in  the  examples 
which  had  been  relied  on,  to  show  that  the  government  ought 
not  to  interfere,  never  exceeded  60  or  70  per  cent;  but  in  the 
present  instance,  they  often  amounted  to  700  or  800  per  cent. 
He  denied  that  public  credit  would  be  injuriously  affected  by 
the  proposed  measure,  because  the  government  was  not  a 
gainer  by  it;  because  it  had  provided  fully  for  its  foreign  debt; 
and  because  all  future  loans  would  be  made  on  the  credit  of 
adequate  funds.  He  referred  to  the  course  pursued  by  the 
Parliament  of  Great  Britain  in  their  settlement  of  the  South 
Sea  speculation,  as  a  precedent,  both  to  show  that  on  extraor- 
dinary occasions  legislatures  should  not  be  governed  by  techni- 
cal rules,  and  that  such  a  course  would  not  injure  public  credit: 
and  he  admitted,  that  whatever  were  the  claims  of  the  original 
creditors  on  the  gratitude,  or  even  justice  of  the  nation,  they 
could  not  affect  the  rights  of  the  holders  of  the  certificates. 

The  arguments  relied  on  by  the  other  side  were,  that  as  the 


320  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

government  had  stated  upon  the  face  of  the  certificates  which 
it  had  issued  to  its  creditors,  that  they  should  be  paid  to  the 
bearer,  and  these  certificates  had  been  purchased  in  the  belief 
of  this  assurance,  to  refuse  an  exact  compliance,  would  be  a 
breach  of  faith,  not  more  dishonourable  than  injurious  in  all 
future  transactions  of  the  state;  that  such  a  course  would  de- 
preciate the  value  of  the  certificates  still  held  by  the  first 
owners,  and  would  benefit  one  portion  of  the  creditors  at  the 
expense  of  another,  which  was  not  only  more  numerous,  but 
had  also  the  merit  of  retaining  its  confidence  in  the  faith  of  the 
government.  They  said  that  the  soldiers  and  others  who  had 
sold  their  certificates  had  not  asked  for  relief,  and  would  not 
accept  a  provision  which  could  be  made  only  by  a  violation  of 
their  own  contracts.  That  if  there  were  no  other  objections, 
the  impracticability  of  ascertaining  who  were  the  original 
creditors  presented  insuperable  difficulties,  as  the  certificates 
being  made  payable  to  the  bearer,  the  names  inserted  in  them 
did  not  always  show  the  real  creditor,  but  were  sometimes 
those  of  an  agent,  or  even  of  the  purchasing  officer;  and  the 
investigation  of  these  facts  would  give  rise  to  endless  litigation, 
perjury,  and  fraud;  would  often  prove  fruitless;  and  where  it 
was  successful,  it  would  operate  with  the  most  capricious  in- 
equalities among  the  different  purchasers.  They  denied  the 
interference  of  Parliament  with  the  South  Sea  contracts  was 
applicable  to  the  present  case;  and  they  challenged  their  oppo- 
nents to  adduce  any  case  in  which  a  government  had  annulled 
its  own  solemn  engagements. 

In  reply  to  this  challenge,  Mr.  Madison  cited  the  case  of  the 
Canada  bills,  which  having  been  issued  by  the  French  govern- 
ment during  the  war  of  1756,  underwent  great  depreciation, 
and  were  then  purchased  by  English  merchants.  At  the  peace, 
in  1763,  it  was  agreed  by  the  English  and  French  governments 
that  the  holders  should  receive  for  them  only  the  purchase 
money  and  interest.  He  cited  another  case  from  Great  Britain 
in  1713,  in  which  those  who  had  sold  government  debentures 
at  a  loss,  were  allowed  to  redeem  them  on  paying  the  pur- 
chase money,  with  interest.  He  again  deprecated  in  this  ex- 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  321 

traordinary  case,  "the  niceties  of  forensic  reasoning;"  and  in 
answer  to  the  charge  of  having  appealed  to  the  feelings  in  a 
question  of  right,  he  said,  "that  in  great  and  unusual  questions 
of  morality,  the  heart  is  the  best  casuist."  He  admitted  there 
would  be  difficulties  in  the  execution  of  his  plan;  but  they  were 
not  insuperable.  Tribunals  might  be  distributed  throughout 
the  union  to  investigate  the  claims,  and  with  the  aid  afforded 
by  public  documents,  the  ownership  could  be  easily  ascertained. 
If,  however,  justice  should  not  be  always  done,  it  was  certain 
that  enormous  injustice  would  be  prevented. 

After  a  spirited  debate  of  ten  days,  which  called  forth  nearly 
all  the  talents  of  the  house,  the  motion  was  lost  by  a  vote  of  36 
to  13. 

The  great  inequality  of  the  votes  given  on  this  question  can- 
not be  considered  to  afford  the  usual  evidence  of  its  merits,  or 
even  of  the  state  of  public  opinion  concerning  it.  The  parties 
immediately  interested  in  its  decision  were  very  unequally 
matched  in  the  means  of  supporting  their  respective  interests. 
On  the  one  hand,  the  speculators,  first  then  known  as  a  separate 
class,  were  possessed  of  wealth,  intelligence,  and  activity,  while 
the  greater  part  of  those  who  had  sold  their  certificates  were 
ignorant,  indigent,  and  incapable  of  concerted  action.  Such  as 
were  not  of  this  description  thought  it  became  them  to  be  merely 
passive,  when  the  question  was  whether  they  were  to  be  bene- 
fitted  by  the  partial  annulment  of  their  own  contracts,  and  some 
even  doubted  whether  they  were  not  bound  in  honour  to  refuse 
the  benefit,  in  case  it  were  proffered  them  by  the  legislature. 
The  speculators  were  under  no  such  restraints.  The  hope  of 
gain,  which  had  not  scrupled  to  take  advantage  of  the  necessi- 
ties of  the  public  creditors,  and  to  improve  that  advantage  by 
everv  device  of  misrepresentation,  lost  none  of  its  force  now 
when  they  had  a  near  prospect  of  realizing  it.  They  could  also 
press  their  claims  with  more  boldness,  because  they  were  ex- 
hibited under  the  imposing  forms  of  redeeming  public  pledges 
and  fulfilling  private  contracts.  They  therefore  exerted  all 
their  influence  on  the  question,  through  the  public  journals,  by 
canvassing  with  the  members,  and  even,  as  it  is  said,  by  the 

VOL.  L— 41 


322  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

more  potent  appeals  to  their  interests,  in  offering  to  make  them 
partners  in  their  speculations.  During  the  whole  of  the  discus- 
sion the  gallery  of  the  House  of  Representatives  was  thronged 
with  this  class,  eager  to  know  the  result  of  their  past  specula- 
tions, and  to  regulate  their  future  efforts.  Certificates,  which 
it  was  proposed  by  funding  to  raise  to  par,  had  been  currently 
sold  at  two  shillings  and  sixpence  in  the  pound,  some  at  still  less; 
and  even  at  the  time  of  the  debate  they  had  not  risen  above 
ten  shillings.  Three  vessels  had  left  New  York,  immediately 
after  the  secretary's  report,  freighted  with  the  means  of  pur- 
chasing those  evidences  of  the  public  debt  in  the  Carolinas  and 
Georgia. 

Notwithstanding  all  these  circumstances,  it  is  believed  that 
a  large  majority  of  the  nation  were  in  favour  of  some  form  of 
discrimination,  and  had  the  same  means  of  ready  communication 
between  the  people  and  their  representatives  then  existed  as  at 
present,  the  public  sentiment  would  have  been  uttered  in  a  voice 
too  strong  to  be  resisted.  It  is  true  that  after  the  house  had 
decided  against  the  claims  of  the  first  holders,  the  manifestations 
of  popular  discontent  were  not  general.  This,  however,  was 
partly  because  public  attention  was  soon  engrossed  by  the  sub- 
sequent question  of  the  assumption;  partly  because  the  tide  of 
public  prosperity,  which  had  already  begun  to  set  in,  tended  as 
usual  to  put  the  people  in  good  humour  with  the  government; 
and  lastly,  because  the  voice  of  complaint  was  drowned  by  the 
plaudits  bestowed  by  the  speculators  on  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  who  was  hailed  as  the  first  of  financiers,  and  was 
ever  after  regarded  by  them  with  the  most  grateful  and  enthu- 
siastic attachment. 

The  public  dissatisfaction,  though  thus  mitigated,  was  not 
extinguished.  It  was  extensive  and  lasting.  For  many  years 
afterwards  the  lovers  of  justice  were  every  where  scandalized 
at  the  spectacle  of  a  few  cunning  or  fortunate  speculators  draw- 
ing large  incomes  from  the  public  treasury,  while  those  whose 
patriotic  earnings  they  had  intercepted  were  in  indigence  and 
obscurity.  Nor  did  the  community  experience  any  general 
benefit  from  the  course  adopted,  to  compensate  it  for  the  shock 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  323 

given  to  its  sense  of  justice.  The  inordinate  gains  of  the  pur- 
chasers, by  encouraging  a  gambling  spirit  in  the  community 
and  a  laxity  of  morals  in  dealing,  excited  for  a  time  a  delete- 
rious influence  on  the  national  character  and  pursuits.  The 
wealth  thus  suddenly  acquired  generally  served  to  introduce 
in  the  community  premature  habits  of  expense,  or  to  increase 
the  number  of  its  idle  class:  and  if,  in  a  few  cases,  it  was  a  sti- 
mulus to  productive  industry,  it  can  hardly  be  doubted  that 
the  sum  of  national  wealth,  as  well  as  of  individual  comfort, 
would  have  been  increased,  if  the  public  bounty  had  been  more 
diffused  throughout  the  community. 

Now  that  the  feelings  of  personal  interest  and  party  sympathy, 
which  mingled  in  this  discussion,  have  passed  away,  it  will  ap- 
pear to  most  men  that,  as  to  the  right  of  the  question,  to  make 
all  other  considerations  bend,  as  the  speculators  and  their  ad- 
vocates contended,  to  the  literal  fulfilment  of  contracts  under 
circumstances  not  contemplated  by  the  parlies,  is  to  confound 
the  best  settled  moral  distinctions,  and  to  disregard  rules  of 
equity  and  principles  of  legislation  universally  recognised:  that 
the  difficulty  of  ascertaining  the  original  holders,  presented  no 
insuperable  objection  to  the  discrimination,  since  the  certificates 
issued  to  the  seldiers,  comprehending  the  largest  class,  showed 
upon  their  face  the  real  owner:  that  the  same  thing  may  be  said 
of  those  issued  for  provisions  and  military  supplies;  and  in  the 
small  proportion  of  cases  where  such  evidence  was  not  afforded, 
it  would  not  have  been  difficult  for  a  board  of  commissioners  to 
ascertain  the  truth,  considering  that  none  of  the  transactions 
could  have  been  more  than  of  ten  or  twelve  years  standing: 
that  though  they  had  sometimes  failed,  that  evil  shrunk  into 
insignificance  compared  with  the  enormous  injustice  which 
would  have  been  prevented:  and  that  on  these  accounts  it  must 
be  a  matter  of  lasting  regret  that  so  many  of  the  soldiers  of  the 
revolution  did  not  profit  by  the  tardy  compensation  provided 
for  them  by  their  country,  but  that  the  crafty  speculator,  like 
the  fox  in  the  fable,  was  thus  permitted  to  run  off  with  the 
spoils  due  to  valour. 

The  question  of  assuming  the  debt  contracted  by  the  indivi- 


324  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

dual  states,  on  account  of  the  revolution,  next  engaged  the 
attention  of  the  house,  and  on  this  question  the  house  being 
more  equally  divided,  the  debate  was  yet  warmer  and  more 
protracted.  It  was  during  the  heat  of  the  discussion  that  Mr. 
Jefferson  reached  New  York  on  the  20th  of  March,  and  it  may 
not  be  uninteresting  to  learn  from  himself  his  views  of  the  poli- 
tics of  the  day,  as  well  as  his  opinion  of  the  questions  then  agi- 
tated in  Congress.  In  his  private  memoranda  he  thus  animad- 
verts on  them. 

"Here,  certainly,  I  found  a  state  of  things  which,  of  all  I  had 
ever  contemplated,  I  the  least  expected.  I  had  left  France  in 
the  first  year  of  her  revolution,  in  the  fervour  of  natural  rights 
and  zeal  for  reformation.  My  conscientious  devotion  to  these 
rights  could  not  be  heightened,  but  it  had  been  aroused  and 
excited  by  daily  exercise.  The  President  received  me  cor- 
dially, and  my  colleagues  and  the  circle  of  principal  citizens, 
apparently  with  welcome.  The  courtesies  of  dinner  parties 
given  me,  as  a  stranger  newly  arrived  among  them,  placed  me 
at  once  in  their  familiar  society.  But  I  cannot  describe  the 
wonder  and  mortification  with  which  the  table  conversations 
filled  me.  Politics  were  the  chief  topic,  and  a  preference  of 
kingly  over  republican  government  was  evidently  the  favourite 
sentiment.  An  apostate  I  could  not  be,  nor  yet  a  hypocrite; 
and  I  found  myself,  for  the  most  part,  the  only  advocate  on  the 
republican  side  of  the  question,  unless  among  the  guests  there 
chanced  to  be  some  member  of  that  party  from  the  legislative 
houses.  Hamilton's  financial  system  had  then  passed.  It  had 
two  objects;  1st.  As  a  puzzle,  to  exclude  popular  understand- 
ing and  inquiry;  2nd.  As  a  machine  for  the  corruption  of  the 
Legislature:  for  he  avowed  the  opinion,  that  man  could  be 
governed  by  one  of  two  motives  only,  force  or  interest;  force,  he 
observed,  in  this  country  was  out  of  the  question,  and  the  in- 
terests, therefore,  of  the  members  must  be  laid  hold  of,  to  keep 
the  Legislature  in  unison  with  the  executive.  And  with  grief 
and  shame,  it  must  be  acknowledged,  that  his  machine  was  not 
without  effect;  that  even  in  this,  the  birth  of  our  government, 
some  members  were  found  sordid  enough  to  bend  their  duty  to 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  325 

their  interests,  and  to  look  after  personal,  rather  than  public 


The  arguments  urged  in  favour  of  the  assumption  were,  that 
the  states  having  taken  up  arms  in  a  common  cause,  and  all 
sharing  alike  in  the  boon  of  Independence  which  their  common 
efforts  had  won,  they  were  all  equally  bound  to  contribute  to 
the  expense  of  the  war,  according  to  their  ability;  and  that  the 
debts  contracted  in  support  of  the  war  by  the  individual  states, 
were  as  much  the  debts  of  the  whole,  as  those  contracted  in  the 
name  of  the  confederation:  That  the  creditors,  in  such  cases, 
had  therefore  a  right  to  look  to  the  general  government  for 
payment,  and  government  was  under  a  moral  obligation  to 
pay  them:  that  justice  to  the  several  states  required  this  course, 
no  less  than  justice  to  the  creditors,  as  some,  by  being  more 
exposed  to  the  ravages  of  war  than  others,  had  also  made  greater 
efforts;  and  that  by  assuming  the  debts  of  all  the  states,  and 
discharging  them  by  a  system  of  taxation  which  would  bear 
equally  on  all,  the  inequality  would  be  corrected.  The  obliga- 
tion, on  the  part  of  the  general  government,  to  provide  for  these 
debts  was  the  greater,  not  only  because  all  attempts  to  have  a 
settlement  among  the  states  had  hitherto  proved  ineffectual, 
but  also,  because  the  states  had  yielded  up  those  sources  of 
revenue  from  which  they  might  have  provided  for  their  pay- 
ment, and  that,  in  fact,  it  would  be  impossible  for  some  of  the 
states,  especially  Massachusetts  and  South  Carolina,  to  pay  their 
creditors,  now  that  they  had,  by  the  constitution,  deprived 
themselves  of  the  right  of  laying  imposts;  that  the  course,  which 
was  thus  conformable  to  justice,  was  recommended  by  the 
strongest  considerations  of  policy;  that  all  admitted  the  debts 
ought  to  be  paid,  and  whether  paid  by  one  government  or  the 
other,  the  money  must  be  drawn  from  the  people;  and  that 
taxation  would  be  more  productive,  and  be  more  economically 
managed  by  one  government  and  one  set  of  revenue  officers 
than  by  two,  and  that  inconvenient  collisions  between  the  fede- 
ral government  and  the  states  would  thereby  be  avoided;  that 
the  jealousies  which  would  arise  among  state  creditors,  on  find- 
ing some  debts  provided  for,  while  their  own  were  overlooked, 


326  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

would  also  be  prevented;  that,  thus  attaching  a  numerous  class 
of  men  to  the  government  by  the  strong  ties  of  interest  and 
gratitude,  it  would  derive  a  support  which,  when  the  extent 
and  vehemence  of  the  opposition  it  had  encountered  was  recol- 
lected, all  its  friends  must  think  desirable. 

To  those  arguments,  the  party  opposed  to  the  assumption 
replied,  that  the  distinction  between  the  debts  of  the  United 
States  and  of  the  individual  states  was  as  well  settled  as  that 
of  the  governments  themselves;  that  it  had  been  recognised  and 
acted  on  by  both  classes  of  debtors  and  creditors;  that,  under 
the  old  confederation,  Congress  and  the  state  governments  had 
aimed  to  provide  for  their  respective  creditors,  who  had  also 
looked  only  to  the  governments  with  which  they  had  contract- 
ed, and  that  such  had  been  the  general  understanding  of  the 
nation,  as  was  evinced  by  the  various  prices  the  debts  of  the 
states  had  borne  on  the  market,  according  to  the  confidence 
had  in  their  respective  means  of  repayment;  that  neither  the 
state  creditors  nor  the  states  themselves  had  any  right  to  look 
to  the  United  States  for  payment — not  the  creditors,  because 
they  had  contracted  solely  with  the  individual  states;  nor  the 
states,  because  they  having  acted  at  their  own  discretion  in  con- 
tracting these  debts,  it  was  impossible  to  know,  until  an  investi- 
gation and  settlement  took  place,  how  far  the  money  was  ex- 
pended for  their  exclusive  purposes,  or  in  the  common  cause; 
that,  hitherto,  no  state  could  obtain  credit  for  the  smallest  dis- 
bursement until  such  investigation  had  taken  place. 

Such  being  the  relative  rights  of  the  parties  when  the  consti- 
tution was  adopted,  they  said  if  it  had  been  the  intention  of  its 
framers  to  alter  that  relation,  and  to  make  the  debts  of  the 
states  the  debts  of  the  nation,  they  would  have  inserted  an 
express  provision  to  that  effect;  that  not  having  done  so,  and 
the  general  government  having  no  powers  but  what  are  ex- 
pressly delegated,  it  might  well  be  doubted  whether  Congress 
could  make  the  proposed  assumption:  the  most  that  the  consti- 
tution seemed  to  authorize  was,  that  if  after  a  settlement  among 
the  states,  it  should  be  found  that  any  of  them  had  advanced 
more  than  their  just  proportion  for  general  purposes,  the  amount 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  327 

of  such  excess  might  be  assumed  by  the  federal  government,  as 
being  then  a  just  debt  of  the  United  States. 

Admitting  the  power  to  be  possessed  by  Congress,  they  main- 
tained that  a  general  assumption  would  be  grossly  unjust:  that 
if  the  states  differed  as  to  the  amount  of  debt  contracted  by 
them  on  account  of  the  war,  they  differed  also  in  the  exertions 
•they  had  made  to  discharge  such  debt,  and  to  assume  the  debts 
they  now  owed,  indiscriminately,  would  be  to  relieve  those 
states  most  who  least  deserved  it,  and  subject  those  states  which, 
like  Pennsylvania  arid  Virginia,  had  already  heavily  taxed  them- 
selves, for  the  sake  of  reducing  their  debts,  to  the  burthen  of 
further  taxation,  for  the  purpose  of  paying  the  debts  of  others: 
that  the  inequality  would  be  further  increased,  if  some  of  the 
state  creditors  refused  to  subscribe  their  debts  according  to  the 
plan  of  the  assumption,  which  was  the  more  probable,  as  the 
debts  of  some  of  the  states  having  been  well  funded,  and  bear- 
ing an  interest  of  6  per  cent.,  would  be  worth  more  than  those 
of  the  United  States;  in  which  case  such  states  would  have  to 
bear  their  share  of  the  new  burthen,  without  being  relieved, 
like  other  states,  from  that  previously  existing:  they  denied 
that  the  states  of  Massachusetts  and  South  Carolina,  whose 
debts  were  largest,  would  be  unable  to  provide  for  their  credi- 
tors: if,  however,  that  were  the  case,  it  must  be  because  they 
had  contributed  more  than  their  just  proportion  to  the  common 
cause,  which  furnished  indeed  a  strong  argument  for  a  settle- 
ment by  which  they  would  be  relieved  from  such  excess,  but 
none  for  assuming  the  whole  amount. 

They  insisted  that  the  assumption  was  as  repugnant  to 
policy  as  to  justice:  that  the  debts,  foreign  and  domestic,  which 
were  contracted  by  the  United  States,  and  for  which  they  were 
bound,  and  had  agreed  to  provide,  were  sufficient  to  exhaust 
the  sources  of  revenue  from  the  impost;  and  that  so  large  an 
addition  to  the  debt  as  was  now  proposed  would  make  a  resort 
to  excises  and  direct  taxes  indispensable:  that  the  first  was 
odious,  the  last  inconvenient,  and  both  would  be  expensive 
in  the  collection;  and  that  therefore  the  assumption  would  not 
be  economical  to  the  nation:  nor  could  the  federal  government 


328  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

singly  draw  more  money  from  the  people  than  that  government 
and  the  state  governments  united,  because  the  general  taxes 
which  would  be  productive  in  one  state  might  not  be  so  in 
another,  and  because  the  state  legislatures,  from  their  more 
intimate  knowledge  of  the  people,  and  the  greater  confidence 
they  possessed,  might  draw  a  revenue  from  sources  which  could 
not  be  reached  by  the  federal  government:  that  the  state  debts, 
if  assumed,  would,  like  those  of  the  United  States,  fall  into  the 
hands  of  speculators,  and  thus  the  money  drawn  from  the  peo- 
ple to  pay  the  interest  would  not  be  kept  in  circulation,  as  now 
in  the  several  states,  but  be  either  sent  abroad,  or  confined  to 
the  large  cities:  that  if  the  measure  was  likely  to  bring  strength 
to  the  federal  government  by  adding  a  large  class  of  creditors 
to  its  support,  it  could  produce  this  effect  only  at  the  expense 
of  the  state  governments,  whose  influence  and  independence 
were  equally  essential  in  our  system  of  polity;  but  that  as  the 
measure  would  probably  be  followed  by  an  excise  and  direct 
taxes,  the  government  might  lose  far  more  in  popularity  than 
they  gained  in  power.  They  lastly  deprecated  a  hasty  deci- 
sion, urged  that  no  state  had  asked  for  the  assumption,  and 
South  Carolina  alone  had  seemed  to  expect  it;  that  the  state 
creditors  had  not  sought  it;  and  that  a  measure  of  so  much  im- 
portance had  better  be  defeated,  or,  at  all  events,  delayed,  than 
be  passed  by  a  bare  majority. 

These  arguments  finally  prevailed  on  the  10th  of  April,  by  a 
vote  of  31  to  29,  notwithstanding  some  indications  in  the  ear- 
lier part  of  the  debate  that  a  majority  was  in  favour  of  the 
assumption,  and  although  the  measure  was  supported  by  Mr. 
Hamilton's  influence,  and  by  that  large  proportion  of  the  state 
creditors  who  believed  that  their  debts  would  be  thereby  greatly 
enhanced. 

But  the  advocates  of  the  assumption  were  not  to  be  thus 
driven  from  their  purpose.  On  the  24th  of  May,  Mr.  Gerry,  of 
Massachusetts,  renewed  the  proposition  with  the  important 
modification  that  the  amount  to  be  assumed  from  each  state 
should  be  previously  settled  by  Congress,  so  as  to  prevent  the 
gross  injustice  which  would  have  been  done  to  some  of  the 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  329 

states  on  the  plan  first  proposed;  and  on  the  following  day,  Mr. 
Sherman,  of  Connecticut,  Mr.  Boudinot,  of  New  Jersey,  and  Mr. 
Ames,  of  Massachusetts,  spoke  at  length  in  favour  of  it,  and  took 
occasion  to  advert  to  the  arguments  formerly  urged  by  Mr. 
Madison  against  the  assumption.  The  proposition  was  then 
rejected  without  a  count.  Its  friends  still  persevered,  and  finally 
prevailed  by  one  of  those  compromises  which  occasionally  take 
place  in  legislative  bodies,  and  by  which  sometimes  each  of  two 
excited  parties  being  induced  to  recede  from  its  wishes,  a  course 
is  adopted  that  is  preferable  to  that  proposed  by  either,  but  by 
which,  on  other  occasions,  two  measures  are  carried  when 
neither  could  pass,  or  perhaps  ought  to  pass,  on  its  own  merits. 
To  which  class  the  present  compromise  belonged,  the  opinions  of 
men  have  been  greatly  divided.  Mr.  Jefferson  had  some  agency 
in  bringing  about  this  compromise,  of  which  he  thus  speaks: 

"This  game*  was  over,  and  another  was  on  the  carpet  at  the 
moment  of  my  arrival;  and  to  this  I  was  most  ignorantly  and 
innocently  made  to  hold  the  candle.  This  fiscal  manoeuvre  is 
well  known  by  the  name  of  the  Assumption.  Independently  of 
the  debts  of  Congress,  the  states  had  during  the  war  contracted 
separate  and  heavy  debts;  and  Massachusetts  particularly,  in  an 
absurd  attempt,  absurdly  conducted,  on  the  British  post  of  Pe- 
nobscot;  and  the  more  debt  Hamilton  could  rake  up,  the  more 
plunder  for  his  mercenaries.  This  money,  whether  wisely  or 
foolishly  spent,  was  pretended  to  have  been  spent  for  general 
purposes,  and  ought,  therefore,  to  be  paid  from  the  general 
purse.  But  it  was  objected,  that  nobody  knew  what  these 
debts  were,  what  their  amount,  or  what  their  proofs.  No  mat- 
ter; we  will  guess  them  to  be  twenty  millions.  But  of  these 
twenty  millions,  we  do  not  know  how  much  should  be  reim- 
bursed to  one  state,  or  how  much  to  another.  No  matter;  we 
will  guess.  And  so  another  scramble  was  set  on  foot  among 
the  several  states,  and  some  got  much,  some  little,  some  no- 
thing. But  the  main  object  was  obtained,  the  phalanx  of  the 
treasury  was  reinforced  by  additional  recruits. 

*  The  funding  of  the  debt. 
VOL.  I.— 42 


330  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

This  measure  produced  the  most  bitter  and  angry  contests  ever 
known  in  Congress,  before  or  since  the  union  of  the  states.  I  ar- 
rived in  the  midst  of  it.  But  a  stranger  to  the  ground,  a  stranger 
to  the  actors  on  it,  so  long  absent  as  to  have  lost  all  familiarity 
with  the  subject,  and  as  yet  unaware  of  its  object,  I  took  no  con- 
cern in  it.  The  great  and  trying  question,  however,  was  lost 
in  the  House  of  Representatives.  So  high  were  the  feuds  ex- 
cited by  this  subject,  that  on  its  rejection  business  was  suspend- 
ed. Congress  met  and  adjourned  from  day  to  day  without  doing 
any  thing;  the  parties  being  too  much  out  of  temper  to  do  busi- 
ness together.  The  eastern  members  particularly,  who,  with 
Smith,  from  South  Carolina,  were  the  principal  gamblers  in 
these  scenes,  threatened  a  secession  and  dissolution.  Hamilton 
was  in  despair.  As  I  was  going  to  the  president's  one  day,  I 
met  him  in  the  street  He  walked  me  backwards  and  forwards 
before  the  president's  door  for  half  an  hour.  He  painted  pa- 
thetically the  temper  into  which  the  Legislature  had  been 
wrought;  the  disgust  of  those  who  were  called  the  creditor 
states;  the  danger  of  the  secession  of  their  members,  and  the 
separation  of  the  states.  He  observed,  that  the  members  of  the 
administration  ought  to  act  in  concert;  that  though  this  ques- 
tion was  not  of  my  department,  yet  a  common  duty  should  make 
it  a  common  concern;  that  the  president  was  the  centre  on 
which  all  administrative  questions  ultimately  rested,  and  that 
all  of  us  should  rally  around  him,  and  support,  with  joint  ef- 
forts, measures  approved  by  him;  and  that  the  question  having 
been  lost  by  a  small  majority  only,  it  was  probable  that  an 
appeal  from  me  to  the  judgment  and  discretion  of  some  of  my 
friends  might  effect  a  change  in  the  vote,  and  the  machine  of 
government,  now  suspended,  might  be  again  set  into  motion. 

I  told  him  that  I  was  really  a  stranger  to  the  whole  subject;  that 
not  having  yet  informed  myself  of  the  system  of  finance  adopt- 
ed, I  knew  not  how  far  this  was  a  necessary  sequence;  that 
undoubtedly,  if  its  rejection  endangered  a  dissolution  of  our 
union  at  this  incipient  stage,  I  should  deem  that  the  most  un- 
fortunate of  all  consequences,  to  avert  which  all  partial  and 
temporary  evils  should  be  yielded.  I  proposed  to  him,  howev- 


THE  LIFE  6P  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  331 

er,  to  dine  with  me  the  next  day.  and  I  would  invite  another 
friend  or  two,  bring  them  into  conference  together,  and  I  thought 
it  impossible  that  reasonable  men,  consulting  together  coolly, 
could  fail,  by  some  mutual  sacrifices  of  opinion,  to  form  a  com- 
promise which  was  to  save  the  union.  The  discussion  took 
place.  I  could  take  no  part  in  it,  but  an  exhortatory  one, 
because  I  was  a  stranger  to  the  circumstances  which  should 
govern  it.  But  it  was  finally  agreed,  that  whatever  importance 
had  been  attached  to  the  rejection  of  this  proposition,  the  pre- 
servation of  the  union,  and  of  concord  among  the  states,  was 
more  important,  and  that,  therefore,  it  would  be  better  that 
the  vote  of  rejection  should  be  rescinded,  to  effect  which  some 
members  should  change  their  votes.  But  it  was  observed  that 
this  pill  would  be  peculiarly  bitter  to  the  southern  states,  and 
that  some  concomitant  measure  should  be  adopted,  to  sweeten 
it  a  little  to  them.  There  had  before  been  propositions  to  fix 
the  seat  of  government  either  at  Philadelphia,  or  at  George- 
town, on  the  Potomac;  and  it  was  thought  that  by  giving  it  to 
Philadelphia  for  ten  years,  and  to  Georgetown  permanently 
afterwards,  this  might,  as  an  anodyne,  calm  in  some  degree  the 
ferment  which  might  be  excited  by  the  other  measure  alone. 
So  two  of  the  Potomac  members  (White  and  Lee,  but  White 
with  a  revulsion  of  stomach  almost  convulsive)  agreed  to  change 
their  votes,  and  Hamilton  undertook  to  carry  the  other  point. 
In  doing  this,  the  influence  he  had  established  over  the  eastern 
members,  with  the  agency  of  Robert  Morris  with  those  of  the 
middle  states,  effected  his  side  of  the  engagement;  and  so  the 
assumption  was  passed,  and  twenty  millions  of  stock  divided 
among  favoured  states,  and  thrown  in  as  a  pabulum  to  the 
stock-jobbing  herd.  This  added  to  the  number  of  votaries  to 
the  treasury,  and  made  its  chief  the  master  of  every  vote  in  the 
Legislature  which  might  give  to  the  government  the  direction 
suited  to  his  political  views." 

However  equitable  may  appear  the  claims  of  the  creditor 
states,  or  of  the  creditors  themselves  in  the  abstract,  it  must  be 
admitted  that  a  singular  spectacle  was  exhibited,  when  a  nation 
already  so  burthened  with  debt  as  to  propose  terms  of  compro- 


332  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

mise  to  its  creditors,  and  to  urge  its  necessities  on  those  creditors 
as  a  reason  why  they  should  accept  the  proffered  terms,  was 
seen  voluntarily  to  impose  on  itself  the  burden  of  new  debts; 
and  however  just  and  urgent  may  have  been  the  claims  of  such 
states  as  Massachusetts  or  South  Carolina  to  be  relieved  from 
a  part  of  the  debt  they  had  incurred  in  the  common  cause,  it 
can  scarcely  be  doubted,  that  no  assumption  would  have  been 
made  without  a  previous  settlement,  and  still  less  one  large 
enough  to  cover  the  whole  state  debts,  if  in  addition  to  the  influ- 
ence of  private  interests,  which  is  so  efficient  in  all  legislation 
affecting  them,  it  had  not  been  believed  that  the  extension  of 
the  public  debt  would  prove  a  cement  to  the  union,  and  give 
an  accession  of  strength  to  the  government.  On  these  two  mo- 
tives it  may  be  remarked,  that  our  sympathy  in  behalf  of  the 
creditors  is  very  much  weakened,  when  we  recollect  that  much 
of  the  debt  which  would  be  enhanced  in  value  by  the  assump- 
tion was  not  in  the  hands  of  the  original  creditors,  but  in  those 
who  had  speculated  on  their  necessities;  and  that  as  to  the 
cementing  effect  of  the  debt,  it  seems  to  have  been  much  over- 
rated. Those  persons  who  were  likely  to  be  public  credi- 
tors belong  to  a  class  who  have  other  motives  for  supporting 
the  government;  and  if  they  have  a  farther  and  peculiar  in- 
terest in  upholding  its  measures,  that  interest  is  as  obvious  to 
others  as  themselves,  and  a  knowledge  of  the  fact  tends  to 
lessen  the  weight  of  their  support.  Many  a  fundholder,  who, 
if  there  had  been  no  public  debt,  might  have  proved  a  valuable 
auxiliary  of  the  government,  has  had  his  interest  more  than 
counterbalanced  by  the  popular  belief  that  his  efforts  were  dic- 
tated by  his  interests.  Besides,  if  the  government  gained  one 
way  by  the  assumption,  it  lost  by  another,  as  the  excise,  an 
unpopular  tax,  and  most  unpopular  where  the  new  adminis- 
tration most  wanted  friends,  would  not  have  been  necessary  but 
for  the  assumption. 

On  this  question,  before  the  compromise,  the  three  New 
England  states,  New  Jersey,  and  South  Carolina  were  warmly 
and  unanimously  in  its  favour,  whilst  Virginia,  North  Carolina, 
and  Georgia  were  as  decidedly  opposed  to  it,  and  the  other 
states  were  either  divided  or  comparatively  indifferent. 


333 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

Mr.  Jefferson's  party  attachments.  Injurious  effects  of  the  assumption. 
Leading  measures  of  Congress.  Discriminating  duties.  Commer- 
cial retaliation  proposed.  Closed  doors  of  the  Senate.  Navigation 
of  the  Mississippi.  Diplomatic  intercourse  with  England.  Mr.  Jef- 
fersorfs  reports  on  a  copper  coinage — on  weights  and  measures — the 
fisheries.  Excise.  Mr.  Hamilton's  report  on  public  credit.  He  pro- 
poses a  national  bank.  Arguments  for  and  against  its  constitution- 
ality. Letter  to  the  National  Assembly  in  memory  of  Franklin. 
Navigation  of  the  Mississippi.  Tonnage  duty.  Political  sentiments 
of  John  Adams  and  Alexander  Hamilton.  Practice  of  recording 
conversations  considered.  Public  prosperity.  Public  credit.  Spirit 
of  speculation— its  causes  and  effects.  Discriminating  duties  in 
France.  French  West  Indies.  Indian  territorial  rights.  The  sur- 
render of  fugitives  from  justice.  Deputies  from  St.  Domingo. 

1790—1791. 

THOUGH  Mr.  Jefferson  had  been  induced  to  give  a  reluctant 
support  to  the  favourite  measures  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Trea- 
sury and  his  friends,  it  was  impossible  that  he  could  long  con- 
tinue to  co-operate  with  that  party,  or  even  remain  neutral. 
All  his  theoretical  opinions;  all  his  national  predilections  and 
antipathies  were  opposed  to  such  a  result.  The  party  of  Mr. 
Hamilton  were  cordial  admirers  of  the  British  government,  and 
obsequious  copyists  of  its  laws  and  institutions.  The  distrust 
with  which  they  had  just  viewed  the  French  revolution  was 
gradually  ripening  into  aversion  and  horror.  Mr.  Jefferson  was 
opposed  to  them  on  both  those  particulars,  and  he  was  by  tem- 
perament more  in  favour  of  a  cheaper  and  more  tranquil  go- 
vernment; one  which  imposed  moderate  restraints  on  individual 
liberty  with  little  resort  to  taxation,  and  no  resort  to  force. 


334  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

Military  triumphs  he  neither  coveted  for  himself,  nor  beheld 
with  favour  in  others.  He.  looked  upon  them  as  no  less  bur- 
densome to  the  citizen  than  dangerous  to  the  supremacy  of  the 
laws. 

In  addition  to  these  sources  of  division,  men  began  already  to 
differ  about  the  construction  of  the  constitution,  according  to 
their  general  tenets  and  principles  of  government;  those  who 
thought  the  political  danger  most  to  be  apprehended  by  the 
United  States  to  be  that  of  disunion,  inclining  to  that  construc- 
tion which  would  enlarge  the  powers  of  the  federal  govern- 
ment, and  those  who  thought  the  tendency  to  consolidation  the 
most  imminent  danger,  seeking  to  give  to  that  instrument  a 
more  strict  and  literal  interpretation.  Most  of  the  southern 
members  belonged  to  this  party,  especially  those  who  had  been 
opposed  to  the  adoption  of  the  constitution;  and  Mr.  Madison, 
ever  since  the  question  of  assumption,  had  united  with  them, 
and  had,  in  fact,  taken  the  lead  in  endeavouring  to  keep  the 
new  government  to  the  letter  of  its  charter.  It  was  not,  how- 
ever, until  the  succeeding  session  that  this  diversity  became  that 
plain  and  palpable  line  of  distinction  which  it  has  remained 
ever  since. 

On  the  final  settlement  of  the  accounts  among  the  states,  the 
predicted  injustice  and  inexpediency  of  the  assumption  were 
fully  verified.  Had  there  been  no  assumption,  the  sum  of 
8,047,390  dollars  was  due  to  the  states  of  Massachusetts,  Rhode 
Island,  Connecticut  and  South  Carolina  from  the  other  states. 
In  the  very  lucid  exposition  of  the  finances  of  the  United  States, 
given  by  Mr.  Gallatin  some  years  afterwards,  it  appears  that 
the  whole  amount  assumed  on  account  of  the  state  debts,  prin- 
cipal and  interest,  was  22,492,888  dollars;  and  that  after  the 
assumption,  the  sum  of  2,450,390  dollars  was  due  from  the  states 
of  New  York,  Delaware,  and  North  Carolina,  to  the  other  ten 
states:  that  if  the  assumption  had  been  founded  on  accurate 
data  instead  of  conjecture,  it  would  have  been  necessary  to  as- 
sume only  to  the  amount  of  11,609,259  dollars  to  produce  the 
same  result;  and,  in  that  case,  the  sum  of  2,450,390  dollars 
would  have  been  due  from  the  four  states  of  New  York,  Penn- 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  335 

sylvania,  Delaware  and  Maryland,  to  the  other  nine:  and 
"Thus,"  as  he  justly  remarks,  "had  the  United  States  waited 
to  assume  the  state  debts  till  the  accounts  had  been  finally 
settled,  instead  of  assuming  at  random  before  a  final  settlement 
had  taken  place,  the  very  same  result  which  now  exists  might 
have  been  effected;  and  the  accounts  of  the  union  with  the  in- 
dividual states  might  have  been  placed  in  the  same  relative 
situation  in  which  they  now  stand,  by  assuming  eleven  millions 
instead  of  twenty-two.  The  additional  and  unnecessary  debt 
created  by  that  fatal  measure  amounts  therefore  to  dollars 
10,88a,628T5o-8o-."  It  was  a  more  uncompensated  evil  too.  as  the 
four  creditor  states  of  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut, 
and  South  Carolina,  would  have  received  nearly  the  same 
amount  of  relief  by  the  supposed  assumption  of  eleven  millions 
that  they  did  receive  under  the  actual  assumption  of  twenty-two 
millions. 

Two  or  three  other  incidents  of  this  session  may  serve  to  show 
the  complexion  of  public  sentiment,  and  the  germ  of  those  po- 
litical parties  which  subsequently  so  agitated  the  country.  One 
part  of  the  plan  of  funding  the  public  debt  was  to  make  it  un- 
redeemable, except  at  the  rate  of  one  per  cent,  annually,  or 
two-thirds  of  one  per  cent.,  according  to  the  rate  of  interest. 
This  feature  was  supported  by  some,  partly  because  it  had  been 
recommended  by  Mr.  Hamilton,  and  partly  because  it  seemed 
to  secure  to  the  country  the  supposed  benefits  of  a  national 
debt:  and  it  was  opposed  by  others  on  these  very  accounts. 
Fortunately,  this  part  of  the  secretary's  plan  underwent  a  ma- 
terial modification;  for  had  either  of  his  propositions  on  this 
subject  prevailed,  the  public  debt,  instead  of  being  now  paid 
ofF,  would  have  been  unextinguishable  before  1890,  or  1940, 
(according  to  the  terms  selected  by  the  creditor,)  except  at  a 
rate  which  might  have  enhanced  the  amount  more  than  50  per 
cent. 

When  the  friends  to  the  shipping  interest  sought  to  increase 
the  duties  on  foreign  tonnage,  Mr.  Madison  proposed  to  make  a 
discrimination  between  those  nations  which  had  commercial 
treaties  with  the  United  States  and  those  which  had  not;  with 


336  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

the  avowed  intention  of  making  some  return  to  France  for  her 
services  in  the  revolution,  and  of  retaliating  on  Great  Britain 
for  the  illiberal  course  of  her  commercial  policy  towards  the 
United  States.  But  the  proposition  was  earnestly  resisted  by 
Mr.  Ames  and  Mr.  Sedgvvick  of  Massachusetts,  Mr.  Fitzsimmons 
of  Pennsylvania,  and  Mr.  Smith  of  South  Carolina,  who  had 
been  the  principal  supporters  of  Mr-  Hamilton's  schemes  of 
finance.  Thei^  opposition  may  be  ascribed  rather  to  the  fear 
that  retaliation  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain  would  lead  to  irri- 
tating collisions,  and  to  a  conciliatory  temper  towards  that  coun- 
try, than  to  alienation  towards  her  rival.  The  French  revolution 
had  indeed  already  begun  to  be  viewed  very  differently  by  men 
according  as  they  had  more  or  less  confidence  in  the  capacity 
of  mankind  for  self-government,  and  as  they  more  affected  the 
blessings  of  civil  liberty  on  the  one  hand,  or  those  of  peace,  or- 
der, and  security  on  the  other;  but  it  had  not  yet  called  forth 
those  passions  which  afterwards  blazed  so  fiercely,  and  which 
found  fresh  aliment  for  their  heat  and  fury  in  every  domestic 
controversy. 

Mr.  Madison  having  failed  in  his  first  proposition,  offered  two 
others,  founded  on  the  principle  of  reciprocity  in  commerce. 
By  the  first  of  these  propositions,  which  was  levelled  at  the  re- 
strictions on  the  West  India  trade,  it  was  provided  that  when- 
ever a  foreign  nation  prohibited  American  ships  from  transport- 
ing merchandise  from  any  of  its  ports  to  the  United  States, 
their  ships  should  be  subjected  to  a  like  prohibition;  and  should, 
moreover,  be  prohibited  from  transporting  from  the  United 
States  to  such  ports  any  products  of  the  United  States.  The 
second,  which  was  intended  to  countervail  the  British  navigation 
act,  provided  that  where  any  nation  prohibits  American  ships 
from  carrying  to  its  ports  any  commodity,  not  the  product  of 
the  United  States,  the  ships  of  such  nation  should  be  subject  to 
a  similar  restriction  in  their  imports  into  the  United  States. 
This  measure  met  with  a  more  favourable  reception  from  some 
of  the  members  of  the  northern  states.  It  was,  however,  un- 
palatable to  a  part  of  the  southern  member"  °nd  was  not  finally 
acted  on. 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  337 

At  this  session  it  was  proposed  that  the  senate  should  open 
its  doors,  when  sitting  in  its  legislative  capacity.  The  motion 
was  however  rejected,  and  although  it  was  renewed  at  each 
succeeding  session,  it  was  not  adopted  until  February,  1794, 
when  such  had  been  the  change  of  opinion  in  the  body,  or  rather 
the  force  of  public  sentiment,  that  but  eight  members  voted  in 
the  negative. 

Two  days  after  the  adjournment  of  Congress  on  the  12th  of 
August,  Mr.  Jefferson  accompanied  the  President,  with  a  small 
party,  on  a  week's  excursion  to  Rhode  Island,  and  in  the  follow- 
ing month  he  sought  a  respite  from  his  official  duties  by  a  visit 
to  Monticello.  He  remained  there  until  the  middle  of  Novem- 
ber, when  he  repaired  to  Philadelphia,  to  which  place  the  seat 
of  the  federal  government  was  now  transferred. 

When,  during  the  summer,  there  was  a  prospect  of  a  rupture 
between  Great  Britain  and  Spain  concerning  Nootka  Sound,  the 
Secretary  of  State  wrote  to  our  minister  at  Madrid,  Mr.  Carmi- 
chael,  to  press  into  the  notice  of  the  Spanish  government  the 
claims  of  our  citizens  to  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  and 
the  right  of  deposit  at  New  Orleans.  The  people  who  had  even 
then  migrated  from  the  Atlantic  states  to  the  West,  had  become 
extremely  impatient  of  the  difficulties  which  Spain  had  thrown 
in  the  way  of  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  to  the  ocean,  and 
of  their  having  a  depot  near  its  mouth,  without  which  the  navi- 
gation would  be  of  little  practical  benefit.  Mr.  Jefferson  con- 
ceived that  if  the  rupture  then  expected  between  England  and 
Spain  should  take  place,  it  would  be  a  favourable  moment  to 
press  our  claims,  urged  Mr.  Short  to  sound  the  French  govern- 
ment on  the  subject,  and  to  endeavour  to  secure  its  good  offices. 
He  at  the  same  time  mentioned  that  the  Count  de  Moustier, 
while  minister  here,  had  formed  the  project  of  establishing  a 
French  colony  on  the  Mississippi,  which  project,  he  suggests,  if 
it  had  been  successful,  would  not  have  proved  ultimately  bene- 
ficial to  France.  He  recommends  Mr.  Short  to  communicate 
with  the  Marquis  de  la  Fayette,  on  whose  kind  offices  to  the 
United  States  he  could  safely  count.  At  this  time  our  wishes 
were  limited  to  the  Island  of  New  Orleans,  containing  about 

VOL.  L— 43 


338  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

160  square  miles,  and  lying  90  miles  above  the  mouths  of  the 
Mississippi;  and  even  this  cession  he  was  urged  to  propose  with 
great  caution.  Yet  in  little  more  than  ten  years  from  that  time, 
Mr.  Jefferson  was  able,  by  a  concurrence  of  good  fortune  with 
statesmanlike  vigilance  and  promptitude,  peaceably  to  acquire 
it,  together  with  a  country  of  a  hundred  times  its  value,  and 
several  thousand  times  its  extent. 

Another  circumstance,  noticed  in  Mr.  Jefferson's  official  cor- 
respondence at  this  time,  marks,  by  the  force  of  contrast,  the 
advancement  which  our  country  has  since  made  in  the  eyes  of 
other  nations,  particularly  of  the  one  which  has  always  stood 
in  the  relation  of  either  open  enmity  or  commercial  rivalship. 
Great  Britain  had  at  this  time  in  New  York  an  informal  agent, 
Major  Beckwith,  who  was  afterwards  Governor  of  Bermuda, 
for  the  purpose  of  watching  the  motions  of  Congress,  and  of  per- 
forming the  office  of  an  informal  minister,  so  far  as  concerned 
his  own  government.  This  gentleman  had  proposed  that  the 
nations  should  exchange  ministers,  which  being  assented  to  by 
the  president,  one  was  forthwith  sent  from  the  United  States; 
but  the  ministry  of  Great  Britain,  under  the  influence  of  pride 
or  ill  humour,  suffered  three  years  to  elapse  without  recipro- 
cating this  mark  of  national  courtesy,  though  its  appointment 
of  an  unaccredited  agent  virtually  acknowledged  the  importance 
of  having  a  representative  in  the  United  States.* 

Through  Major  Beckwith  the  British  ministry  talked  not 
only  of  a  minister,  but  of  a  treaty  of  commerce  and  alliance, 
which  last  was  viewed  by  Mr.  Jefferson  with  no  favour.  "If 
the  object  be  honourable,"  he  remarked  to  Mr.  Gouverneur 
Morris,  then  also  an  informal  agent  from  this  country  to  Great 
Britain,  "it  is  useless;  if  dishonourable,  inadmissible.  These 
tamperings  prove  they  view  a  war  as  very  possible;  and  some 
symptoms  indicate  designs  against  the  Spanish  possessions  ad- 

*  It  has  now  [March,  1836]  been  four  years  since  we  had  any  minister 
in  Great  Britain  above  the  rank  of  a  C'  .;.ge  d'Affaires,  and  in  this  in- 
terval she  has  sent  a  minister,  Sir  Charles  Vaughan,  of  higher  rank 
than  she  ever  sent  before.  It  is  true  that  the  circumstances  attending 
this  seeming  failure  in  national  courtesy,  precludes  the  supposition  of 
purposed  disrespect.  But  forty  years  ago  the  explanation  would  hardly 
have  been  deemed  sufficient. 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  339 

joining  us.  The  consequences  of  their  acquiring  all  the  coun- 
try on  our  frontier,  from  the  St.  Croix  to  the  St.  Mary's,  are  too 
obvious  to  you  to  need  developement.  You  will  readily  see  the 
dangers  which  would  then  environ  us.  We  wish  you,  therefore, 
to  intimate  to  them  that  we  cannot  be  indifferent  to  enterprises 
of  this  kind.  That  we  should  contemplate  a  change  of  neigh- 
bours with  extreme  uneasiness;  and  that  a  due  balance  on  our 
borders  is  not  less  desirable  to  us  than  a  balance  of  power  in 
Europe  has  always  appeared  to  them.  We  wish  to  be  neutral, 
and  will  be  so,  if  they  will  execute  the  treaty  fairly,  and  attempt  no 
conquests  adjoining  us.  This  communication  was,  however,  re- 
stricted to  the  event  of  a  war;  but  they  were  to  be  told  that  in 
no  case  the  United  States  would  accept  any  equivalent  for  the 
western  posts  still  retained  by  Great  Britain." 

Among  Mr.  Jefferson's  official  acts  this  year  were  two  reports 
on  subjects  referred  to  him  by  the  House  of  Representatives. 
The  first,  dated  April  14,  was  concerning  the  proposals  made 
by  an  individual  in  England  to  supply  the  United  States  with  a 
copper  coinage.  The  secretary,  after  bearing  testimony  to  the 
qualifications  of  the  undertaker,  thought  that  his  proposals 
should  be  declined  on  the  grounds  that  "coinage  being  an  at- 
tribute of  sovereignty,"  should  not  be  submitted  to  another 
sovereign;  that  to  exercise  it  in  a  foreign  country  would  be  on 
many  accounts  inconvenient,  and  was  without  example;  and  he 
recommended  that  a  mint,  whenever  established,  should  be 
established  at  home. 

The  other  report,  on  the  subject  of  weights  and  measures,  was 
sent  in  on  the  17th  of  December.  It  recommended  the  pendu- 
lum in  the  latitude  of  45°  north,  as  the  standard  of  lineal  and 
other  measures,  and  rainwater  at  a  given  temperature,  as  the 
standard  of  weight;  and,  it  further  recommended  a  system  of 
decimal  divisions  both  for  measures  and  weights.  Both  reports 
were  written  with  his  accustomed  perspicuity,  neatness,  and 
good  sense.  The  one  on  coinage  was  virtually  adopted.  The 
other  appears  never  to  have  been  acted  on.  The  difficulty  on 
this  subject  has  always  been  not  so  much  in  devising  a  uni- 
form system  of  weights  and  measures  as  of  carrying  it  into 


340  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

execution,  opposed  as  it  is  by  the  inveteracy  of  popular  and 
familiar  habits.  The  want  of  legislative  provision  concerning  it 
has  been  long  felt,  and  though  the  subject  has  been  frequently 
brought  to  the  notice  of  Congress,  especially  in  the  very  full 
and  able  report  of  Mr.  Adams,  when  Secretary  of  State,  no 
reform  has  yet  been  attempted.  Probably  the  inherent  practi- 
cal difficulties  in  introducing  a  system  of  uniformity  have  been 
so  satisfactorily  shown  by  Mr.  Adams,  that  Congress,  deeming 
that  object  unattainable,  has  become  indifferent  to  a  minor 
reformation. 

He  also  made  inquiries  concerning  the  fisheries  of  the  United 
States,  in  consequence  of  a  reference  by  the  House  of  Re- 
presentatives of  a  memorial  on  the  subject  from  the  legis- 
lature of  Massachusetts.  These  inquiries  were  directed  to  the 
number  of  vessels  fitted  out  each  year  for  the  cod  fishery;  their 
tonnage;  the  number  of  seamen  employed;  the  quantity  of 
fish  taken,  distinguishing  the  superior  from  the  inferior  quality; 
the  quantity  exported,  and  to  what  places;  the  average  prices 
at  the  places  exported.  Similar  inquiries  were  directed  as  to 
the  whale  fishery,  all  of  which  information  was  digested  into  a 
report  on  the  meeting  of  Congress. 

He  wrote  a  circular  letter  to  our  consuls  and  vice  consuls 
pointing  out  their  duties;  the  information  expected  from  them; 
and  the  course  of  conduct  to  be  observed  by  them  in  their  com- 
munications with  foreign  governments. 

By  letters  received  from  Mr.  Gouverneur  Morris,  during  the 
summer,  it  plainly  appeared  that  the  British  ministry  were  not 
then  disposed  to  settle  matters  amicably  with  us,  as  the  prin- 
cipal inducement  of  their  late  friendly  overtures,  the  prospect 
of  a  rupture  with  Spain,  had  now  ceased.  He  was  therefore 
requested  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  in  a  letter  of  the  17th  of  December, 
to  discontinue  his  applic-»>5»ns  on  the  subject. 

The  first  occasion  on  which  there  was  an  exhibition  of  party 
feeling  in  Congress,  was  that  of  an  excise,  or  a  duty  on  home 
distilled  spirits.  This  had  been  one  of  the  modes  of  revenue 
originally  proposed  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  the 
necessity  of  a  species  of  tax  which  was  supposed  to  be  expen- 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  341 

sive  in  the  collection,  and  known  to  be  odious,  constituted  one 
of  the  arguments  against  the  assumption  of  the  state  debts. 
After  there  appeared  to  be  a  majority  opposed  to  that  measure 
at  the  last  session,  the  bill  laying  an  excise  was,  on  the  2nd  of 
June,  rejected  in  the  House  of  Representatives  by  35  votes  to 
23,  apparently  on  the  ground  that  other  taxes,  more  free  from 
objection,  might  be  substituted  in  its  place. 

But  the  house  having,  at  the  close  of  the  session,  required  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  report  such  further  provision  as 
he  should  think  necessary  for  the  support  of  public  credit,  he 
accordingly,  on  the  13th  of  December,  sent  in  a  long  and  ela- 
borate report,  renewing  his  recommendation  of  an  excise,  and 
further  recommending  the  establishment  of  a  national  bank. 
The  excise  was  strongly  opposed  by  a  part  of  those  who  object- 
ed to  it  at  the  preceding  session,  but  it  finally  passed  by  a  large 
majority — 35  to  21 — from  a  conviction  that  a  further  revenue 
was  necessary,  since  the  state  debts  had  been  added  to  those  of 
the  United  States,  and  Congress  possessed  no  more  eligible 
means  of  supplying  it. 

The  bill  to  establish  a  national  bank,  which  the  Senate  had 
passed  on  the  20th  of  January,  with  only  five  dissentients,  afford- 
ed the  next  occasion  for  party  excitement.  The  secretary  in 
his  first  report  had  stated  that  he  meant  to  submit  the  plan  of 
such  an  institution;  and  the  scheme  was  not  viewed  favourably 
from  the  first  by  the  minority  in  Congress,  because  it  obviously 
tended  to  benefit  the  moneyed  interest,  and  to  bring  an  acces- 
sion of  strength  to  the  government;  and  because  such  were  be- 
lieved to  be  its  main  objects;  but  the  bill  encountered  no  serious 
opposition  till  after  its  third  reading,  when,  on  a  motion  to 
recommit  it,  commenced  a  debate  which  continued  for  eight 
days. 

As  men  are  still  divided  about  the  constitutionality  of  a  bank 
of  the  United  States,  it  may  not  be  uninteresting  to  see  by  what 
arguments  its  establishment  was  first  assailed  and  defended. 

The  opponents  of  the  measure  began  with  reminding  its 
friends  that  the  government  of  the  United  States  was  one  of  a 
peculiar  character;  that  it  could  act  only  within  the  limits 


342  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

expressly  prescribed  by  the  constitution;  that  Congress  must 
therefore  look  into  that  instrument  for  the  evidences  of  any 
power  it  would  exercise,  and  if  it  cannot  there  be  found,  it  does 
not  exist.  They  then  proceeded  to  examine  in  detail  those 
parts  of  the  constitution  from  which  it  had  been,  or  might  be 
claimed. 

They  said  it  could  not  be  deduced  from  the  clause  which 
authorizes  Congress  to  lay  taxes  to  pay  the  debts  of  the  nation, 
and  to  provide  for  the  common  defence  and  general  welfare, 
for  this  clause  did  not  give  a  general  authority  to  Congress  to 
further  those  objects,  but  only  so  far  as  it  could  be  done  by  lay- 
ing taxes,  and  it  therefore  could  have  no  application  to  this 
bill,  which  imposed  no  tax  whatever.  To  consider  the  words 
"general  welfare"  as  giving  any  power  of  themselves  would  be 
inconsistent  with  the  ordinary  rules  of  interpretation,  would 
render,  the  enumeration  of  particular  powers  nugatory,  and 
have  the  effect  of  annulling  the  powers  reserved  to  the  state 
governments. 

That  the  power  in  question  could  not  be  derived  from  the 
clause  which  authorizes  Congress  to  borrow  money,  as  no  money 
is  borrowed  by  the  bill;  that  the  power  to  borrow  money  is 
merely  the  power  to  obtain  it  on  loan  from  those  who  are  both 
able  and  willing  to  lend;  and  to  say  that  the  power  to  borrow 
involves  the  power  to  create  the  ability  to  lend,  with  those  who 
have  the  mill,  is  as  forced  a  construction  as  it  would  be  to  say 
that  the  clause  gives  the  power  to  compel  the  will  where  the 
ability  exists. 

Nor  can  the  power  be  derived  from  the  authority  given  to 
Congress  to  regulate  commerce,  as  the  bill  proposes  no  regulation 
of  trade,  but  merely  aims  to  provide  one  of  the  materials  of 
trade;  and  indeecnf  the  creation  of  a  bank  were  a  regulation 
of  commerce,  then  it  would  be  forbidden  by  the  constitution, 
as  it  prohibits  Congress  from  giving  a  preference  to  one  port 
over  another,  which  this  bank  would  certainly  give  to  Phila- 
delphia. 

Nor  can  any  argument  in  support  of  the  bill  be  drawn  from 
the  clause  which  authorizes  Congress  to  pass  all  laws  that  are 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  343 

necessary  and  proper  for  carrying  the  express  powers  into  effect; 
for  it  is  not  enough  that  a  measure  may  be  conducive  to  any  of 
the  ends  proposed  by  the  constitution;  it  must  also  be  necessary — 
that  without  which  the  end  could  not  be  effected;  to  give  the 
enlarged  construction  contended  for,  would  be  to  enable  Con- 
gress to  exercise  any  legislative  power  whatever;  and  supposes 
that  the  framers  of  the  constitution  had  by  one  clause  done  away 
with  all  the  restrictions  they  had  been  at  so  much  pains  by 
other  clauses  to  impose;  that  by  this  doctrine  of  implication  to 
borrow  money  is  made  the  end,  and  the  accumulation  of  capi- 
tals, implied  as  the  means;  accumulation  is  then  the  end,  and  a 
bank  implied  as  the  means;  the  bank  is  again  the  end,  and  a 
charter  of  incorporation,  a  monopoly,  capital  punishments  im- 
plied as  the  means;  and  that  by  thus  deducing  one  implication 
from  another,  a  chain  may  be  formed  to  reach  every  object  of 
legislation. 

It  was  further  urged,  that  these  arguments  lost  none  of  their 
force  by  the  fact  that  the  power  now  claimed  was  an  unimpor- 
tant one,  and  therefore  had  not  been  thought  deserving  of  a 
special  provision.  The  power  to  establish  a  corporation  was 
said  to  be  a  substantive  and  highly  important  power,  of  which 
the  present  bill  afforded  a  strong  illustration  in  granting  a  valu- 
able monopoly;  in  enabling  the  bank  to  make  important  by- 
laws; in  conferring  the  right  to  purchase  and  hold  real  estate, 
which  the  United  States  themselves  could  not  do,  without  the 
permission  of  the  states;  and  in  tying  up  the  hands  of  future 
legislatures. 

Iti  answer  to  the  argument  drawn  from  the  establishment  of 
the  bank  of  North  America,  it  was  said  that  that  act  was  clearly 
unauthorized  by  the  articles  of  confederation,  and  had  been 
excused  on  the  ground  of  necessity. 

And  lastly,  it  was  insisted  that  the  construction  of  the  consti- 
tution, maintained  by  the  opposers  of  the  bill,  was  confirmed 
by  the  contemporaneous  exposition  of  those  who  defended  it 
before  the  people,  as  well  as  of  the  conventions  who  ratified  it, 
and  by  some  of  the  explanatory  amendments;  and  that  to  dis- 
regard an  interpretation  so  generally  adopted  then,  would  jus- 


344  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

tify  the  predictions  of  the  opposers  of  the  constitution,  and  sub- 
ject some  of  its  friends  to  the  reproach  of  having  used  one  set  of 
arguments  to  bring  about  its  adoption,  and  another  in  adminis- 
tering it  after  it  was  adopted. 

The  advocates  of  the  bank  admitted  that  the  powers  of  the 
government  were  limited  by  the  constitution;  but  insisted  that, 
in  giving  that  instrument  a  proper  interpretation,  such  a  one  as 
would  make  it  answer  the  purposes  intended  by  its  framers,  it 
must  have  implied  as  well  as  expressed  powers;  in  proof  of 
which  they  referred  to  many  acts  already  done  by  Congress, 
and  for  which  the  constitution  contained  no  express  warrant; 
that  the  limited  character  of  the  government  furnished  no  good 
reason  for  a  strict,  rather  than  a.  liberal  construction,  as  there 
might  be  as  much  mischief  in  failing  to  exercise  a  power  meant 
to  be  granted  as  in  exercising  one  not  so  intended.  It  was 
urged,  that  the  power  given  by  the  constitution  to  borrow, 
would  be  directly  and  greatly  facilitated  by  the  bank,  and 
might  even,  on  the  event  of  war,  prove  indispensable;  and  they 
referred  to  the  case  of  the  bank  of  North  America,  established 
by  the  old  Congress,  as  a  proof  of  its  great  importance,  and  that 
Congress  had  the  power  to  create  a  bank,  as  it  confessedly  pos- 
sessed larger  powers  under  the  present  constitution  than  its  pre- 
decessors possessed  under  the  articles  of  confederation;  they 
insisted  that  the  words  "necessary  and  proper"  meant,  that 
which  had  an  obvious  and  direct  tendency  to  promote  the  end 
provided  for  by  the  constitution;  that  this  interpretation  was 
justified  by  the  ordinary  import  of  the  words;  by  the  sense  in 
which  they  had  been  already  understood;  and  by  the  inexecu- 
tion  of  some  of  the  powers  of  Congress,  which  would  be  the  con- 
sequence of  the  opposite  interpretation,  since  any  particular 
measure  could  seldom  be  indispensably  necessary  to  effect  a 
constitutional  object,  but  was  only  one  of  several  modes  which 
were  conducive  to  that  end;  that  a  bank  would  afford  a  direct 
and  important  aid,  which  nothing  else  could  supply  in  borrowing 
money  whenever  it  should  be  necessary;  in  collecting  taxes  at 
all  times;  in  paying  the  public  creditors  in  the  several  states; 
in  regulating  commerce  from  state  to  state  by  regulating  ex- 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  345 

change;  and  being  thus  necessary  and  proper  for  the  execution  of 
these  several  powers  expressly  granted,  it  had  the  direct  sanction 
of  the  constitution.  They  added  that  as  to  the  powers  said  to  be 
given  to  the  corporation,  they  are  such  as  the  individuals  com- 
posing it  already  possessed;  to  hold  lands,  lend  money,  issue  notes, 
&c.;  by  which  they  were  merely  allowed  to  do,  in  their  corpo- 
rate capacity,  what  they  previously  could  do  as  individuals;  and 
although  this  difference  is  very  important  to  the  persons  inter- 
ested, and  very  beneficial  to  the  community,  it  cannot  be  con- 
sidered as  bringing  any  important  accession  of  power  to  the 
general  government,  or  taking  away  any  from  the  states. 

In  answer  to  the  arguments  drawn  from  the  contemporaneous 
exposition  of  the  constitution,  they  said,  that  in  the  interpreta- 
tion of  a  written  constitution,  the  instrument  itself  was  alone 
to  be  consulted;  and  that  to  search  for  the  intentions  of  its 
framers  from  extrinsic  evidence  would  lead  to  endless  uncertain- 
ty and  dispute,  and  defeat  the  purpose  of  a  written  constitution, 
of  the  truth  of  which  the  present  occasion  afforded  an  example; 
as  the  convention  refused  to  grant  to  Congress  the  power  to 
establish  commercial  corporations,  and  the  amendment  proposed 
by  several  of  the  states,  by  which  Congress  should  be  prohibit- 
ed from  creating  companies  with  exclusive  privileges,  showed 
that  they  thought  the  power  was  already  possessed;  that  it 
seems  more  fair  to  presume,  if  it  had  not  been  intended  that 
Congress  should  possess  the  power  of  creating  a  bank,  they 
would  have  used  negative  words,  than  that  they  intended  the 
contrary  by  their  silence,  when  it  is  recollected  that  the  same 
power  had  been  exercised  by  the  old  Congress,  and  that  its 
constitutionality  had  never  been  called  in  question;  that  if  this 
mode  of  interpretation  were  resorted  to,  it  would  not  avail  the 
opponents  of  the  bank,  because  the  refusal  of  the  convention  to 
give  to  Congress  the  power  to  create  corporations,  related  solely 
to  commercial  corporations,  which  would  always  be  impolitic; 
because  too,  if  the  refusal  had  applied  to  a  banking  corpora- 
tion, it  could  not  appear  whether  some  members  had  not  voted 
against  the  proposition,  on  the  ground  that  the  power  was  al- 
ready possessed,  and  that  the  specification  of  this  case  might  be 

VOL.  I.— 44 


346  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

construed  to  exclude  the  salutary  exercise  of  power  in  analo- 
gous cases;  which  considerations  are  the  more  probable,  as  they 
knew  that  Congress  had  created  a  bank  under  the  far  more 
limited  powers  of  the  confederation;  and  that  this  exercise  of 
power  had  received  the  silent  acquiescence,  or  active  co-ope- 
ration of  all  the  states;  and  lastly,  because  several  of  the  states 
had  proposed  in  their  amendments  to  the  constitution,  that  Con7 
gress  should  be  prohibited  from  establishing  commercial  corpo- 
rations, thus  plainly  showing  that  they  considered  the  power  to 
have  been  actually  conferred  by  the  constitution. 

In  March,  1791,  Mr.  Jefferson,  by  order  of  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  addressed  a  letter  to  the  President  of  the 
National  Assembly  of  France,  in  answer  to  their  decree  of  the 
llth  of  June,  preceding,  which  paid  the  tribute  of  their  respect 
to  the  memory  of  Dr.  Franklin.  After  adverting  to  the  decree, 
he  thus  proceeds: 

"That  the  loss  of  such  a  citizen  should  be  lamented  by  us, 
among  whom  he  lived,  whom  he  so  long  and  eminently  served, 
and  who  feel  their  country  advanced  and  honoured  by  his  birth, 
life  and  labours,  was  to  be  expected.  But  it  remained  for  the 
National  Assembly  of  France  to  set  the  first  example  of  the 
representatives  of  one  nation,  doing  homage,  by  a  public  act,  to 
the  private  citizen  of  another,  and  by  withdrawing  arbitrary 
lines  of  separation,  to  reduce  into  one  fraternity  the  good  and 
the  great,  wherever  they  have  lived  or  died." 

"That  these  separations  may  disappear  between  us  in  all 
times  and  circumstances,  and  that  the  union  of  sentiment  which 
mingles  our  sorrows  on  this  occasion,  may  continue  long  to 
cement  the  friendship  and  the  interests  of  our  two  nations,  is 
our  constant  prayer.  With  no  one  is  it  more  sincere  than  with 
him,  who,  in  being  charged  with  the  honour  of  conveying  a  pub- 
lic sentiment,  is  permitted  that  of  expressing  the  homage  of 
profound  respect,  with  which  he  is,  sir,  your  most  obedient  and 
most  humble  servant." 

"Tn:  JEFFERSON." 

Mr.  Carmichael  was  now  instructed  to  press  the  surrender  of 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  347 

the  port  of  Natchez,  on  the  Mississippi;  to  represent  to  the 
Spanish  government  the  dangers  of  further  delay;  and  to  de- 
mand indemnity  for  the  seizure  of  an  American  citizen  in  that 
neighbourhood,  by  a  party  of  Spanish  soldiers,  in  the  year  1787. 
Mr.  Jefferson  remarked,  that  "an  accident  at  this  day,  like  that 
now  complained  of,  would  put  farther  parley  beyond  our  pow- 
er; yet  to  such  accidents  we  are  every  day  exposed  by  the 
irregularities  of  their  officers,  and  the  impatience  of  our  citi- 
zens. Should  any  spark  kindle  these  dispositions  of  our  borders 
into  a  flame,  we  are  involved  beyond  recall  by  the  eternal  prin- 
ciples of  justice  to  our  citizens,  which  we  will  never  abandon. 
In  such  an  event  Spain  cannot  possibly  gain,  and  what  may  she 
not  lose?"* 

The  attention  of  Mr.  Short  was  also  called  to  the  same  sub- 
ject, and  to  the  right  of  navigating  the  Mississippi,  as  the  wishes 
of  France  were  likely  to  have  much  weight  with  the  court  of 
Spain. 

In  the  same  month  Mr.  Jefferson  entered  into  a  discus- 
sion with  the  French  minister,  Mr.  Otto,  on  the  fair  con- 
struction of  our  treaty  with  France,  in  consequence  of  an  ex- 
pression of  the  act  of  Congress  which  laid  the  tonnage  duty, 
"without  excepting  those  of  France,"  which  reservation  he 
shows  to  be  in  strict  conformity  with  the  treaty,  and  with  the 

*  There  was  reason  to  believe  that  the  backwardness  on  the  part  of 
Spain  to  yield  to  the  wishes  and  claims  of  our  government,  might  be  in 
part  attributed  to  the  representations  which  their  minister  to  the  United 
States,  Mr.  Gardoqui,  made  to  his  government,  and  which  "tended  to 
impress  the  court  of  Madrid  with  the  belief,  that  the  navigation  of  the 
Mississippi  was  only  demanded,  on  our  part,  to  quiet  our  western  settlers, 
and  that  it  was  not  sincerely  desired  by  the  maritime  states."  In  com- 
menting on  this  false  view  of  the  matter  to  Mr.  Carmichael,  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son admits,  that  "there  were  characters  whose  stations  entitled  them  to 
credit,  and  who,  from  geographical  prejudices,  did  not  themselves  wish 
the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  to  be  restored  to  us,  and  who  believe, 
perhaps,  as  is  common  with  mankind,  that  their  opinion  was  the  general 
opinion.  But  the  sentiments  of  the  great  mass  of  the  union  were  deci- 
dedly otherwise  then,  and  the  very  persons  to  whom  Mr.  Gardoqui 
alluded,  have  now  come  over  to  the  opinion  heartily,  that  the  navigation 
of  the  Mississippi,  in  full  and  unrestrained  freedom,  is  indispensably 
necessary,  and  must  be  obtained  by  any  means  it  may  call  for." 


348  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

construction  which  France,  in  her  own  commercial  regulations, 
had  practically  adopted. 

The  two  objects  of  foreign  policy  which  the  administration 
seemed  to  have  most  at  heart  at  this  time  were,  the  free  navi- 
gation of  the  Mississippi,  together  with  a  place  of  deposit  near 
its  mouth,  and  a  navigation  act.  At  the  preceding  session  of 
Congress,  a  bill  formed  with  the  view  of  counteracting  the  policy 
of  the  British  navigation  laws  had  been  prepared  by  a  commit- 
tee, but  the  subject  not  having  been  finally  acted  on,  for  want 
of  time,  it  had  been  referred  to  the  Secretary  of  State  for  him 
to  examine  it,  and  report  on  it  at  the  subsequent  session.  During 
the  following  summer,  in  furtherance  of  the  same  object,  our 
ministers  at  the  courts  of  France,  Spain  and  Portugal,  were 
instructed  to  communicate  with  the  governments  of  those  coun- 
tries, and  to  invite  their  co-operation,  "with  a  view  of  reducing 
that  power  within  safer  limits,  and  of  better  securing  the  free- 
dom of  the  ocean  to  all  the  world." 

In  April,  General  Washington  having  determined  to  make  a 
tour  through  the  southern  states,  addressed  a  letter  to  the  secre- 
taries, Jefferson,  Hamilton  and  Knox,  informing  them  of  the 
time  he  expected  to  reach,  and  to  leave  each  principal  town  in 
his  route,  that  they  might  communicate  with  him  whenever 
occasion  required  it;  and  requesting  that  if  any  question  of  im- 
portance occurred,  they  should,  on  consultation,  determine 
whether  his  personal  attendance  was  necessary,  or  could  be 
dispensed  with;  he  promising,  in  the  first  case,  to  return  imme- 
diately, and,  in  the  second,  to  approve  and  ratify  all  legal  and 
proper  measures  taken  by  them.  They  were  also  requested  to 
invite  the  Vice  President  to  their  consultations. 

Some  occasion  for  consultation  having  occurred  during  the 
President's  absence,  Mr.  Jefferson  accordingly  invited  Mr. 
Adams,  together  with  the  Secretaries  of  the  Treasury  and 
War  and  the  Attorney  General,  to  dinner,  for  the  purpose  of 
conferring  on  the  subject.  A  conversation  took  place  on  this 
occasion,  which  seems  to  have  made  a  very  strong  impression 
on  Mr.  Jefferson's  mind,  and  of  which  he  gives  the  following 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  349 

account,  "for  the  truth  of  which,  he  says,  I  attest  the  God  who 
made  me." 

"After  the  cloth  was  removed,  and  our  question  argued  and 
dismissed,  conversation  began  on  other  matters,  and  by  some 
circumstance  was  led  to  the  British  constitution,  on  which  Mr. 
Adams  observed,  'purge  that  constitution  of  its  corruption,  and 
give  to  its  popular  branch  equality  of  representation,  and  it 
would  be  the  most  perfect  constitution  ever  devised  by  the  wit 
of  man.'  Hamilton  paused  and  said,  'purge  it  of  its  corruption, 
and  give  to  its  popular  branch  equality  of  representation,  and 
it  would  become  an  impracticable  government:  as  it  stands  at 
present,  with  all  its  supposed  defects,  it  is  the  most  perfect  go- 
vernment which  ever  existed.'  And  this  was  assuredly  the 
exact  line  which  separated  the  political  creeds  of  these  two 
gentlemen.  The  one  was  for  two  hereditary  branches  and  an 
honest  elective  one:  the  other,  for  an  hereditary  king,  with  a 
house  of  lords  and  commons  corrupted  to  his  will,  and  standing 
between  him  and  the  people.  Hamilton  was  indeed  a  singular 
character.  Of  acute  understanding,  disinterested,  honest,  and 
honourable  in  all  private  transactions,  amiable  in  society,  and 
duly  valuing  virtue  in  private  life,  yet  so  bewitched  and  per- 
verted by  the  British  example,  as  to  be  under  thorough  convic- 
tion that  corruption  was  essential  to  the  government  of  a  nation. 
Mr.  Adams  had  originally  been  a  republican.  The  glare  of 
royalty  and  nobility,  during  his  mission  to  England,  had  made 
him  believe  their  fascination  a  necessary  ingredient  in  govern- 
ment; and  Shay's  rebellion,  not  sufficiently  understood  where 
he  then  was,  seemed  to  prove  that  the  absence  of  want  and 
oppression  was  not  a  sufficient  guarantee  of  order.  His  book 
on  the  American  constitution  having  made  known  his  political 
bias,  he  was  taken  up  by  the  monarchical  federalists  in  his  ab- 
sence, and,  on  his  return  to  the  United  States,  he  was  by  them 
made  to  believe  that  the  general  disposition  of  our  citizens  was 
favourable  to  monarchy.  He  here  wrote  his  Davila  as  a  sup- 
plement to  the  former  work,  and  his  election  to  the  Presidency 
confirmed  him  in  his  errors.  Innumerable  addresses,  too,  art- 
fully and  industriously  poured  in  upon  him,  deceived  him  into 


350  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

a  confidence  that  be  was  on  the  pinnacle  of  popularity,  when 
the  gulf  was  yawning  at  his  feet  which  was  to  swallow  up  him 
and  his  deceivers.  For  when  General  Washington  was  with- 
drawn, these  energumeni  of  royalism,  kept  in  check  hitherto  by 
the  dread  of  his  honesty,  his  firmness,  his  patriotism,  and  the 
authority  of  his  name,  now  mounted  on  the  car  of  state,  and, 
free  from  control,  like  Phaeton  on  that  of  the  sun,  drove  head- 
long and  wild,  looking  neither  to  right  nor  left,  nor  regarding 
any  thing  but  the  objects  they  were  driving  at,  until  displaying 
these  fully,  the  eyes  of  the  nation  were  opened,  and  a  general 
disbandment  of  them  from  the  public  councils  took  place." 

It  was  no  doubt  under  the  influence  of  this  and  similar  con- 
versations that  he  wrote  what  is  contained  in  the  following 

Extract  of  a  letter  to  Mr.  Short,  dated  July  28, 1791. 

— "Paine's  pamphlet  has  been  published  and  read  with  gene- 
ral applause  here." "The  Tory  paper,  Fenno's,  rarely 

admits  any  thing  which  defends  the  present  form  of  government 
in  opposition  to  his  desire  of  subverting  it,  to  make  way  for  a 
king,  lords,  and  commons.  There  are  high  names*  here  in  fa- 
vour of  this  doctrine,  but  these  publications  have  drawn  forth, 
pretty  generally,  expressions  of  the  public  sentiment  on  this 
subject,  and  I  thank  God  they  arc,  to  a  man,  firm  as  a  rock  in 
their  republicanism." 

A  few  months  afterwards,  August  the  13th,  as  appears  by 
extracts  from  his  diary,  appended  to  his  correspondence,  Mr. 
Jefferson  had  a  conversation  with  Colonel  Hamilton,  in  which 
he  mentioned  to  Hamilton  "a  letter  received  from  Mr.  Adams, 
disavowing  Publicola,  and  denying  that  he  ever  entertained  a 
wish  to  bring  this  country  under  an  hereditary  executive,  or  in- 

*  The  letter  here  refers  to  the  following  note,  in  cipher.  "Adams,  Jay, 
Hamilton,  Knox,  and  many  of  the  Cincinnati.  The  second  says  nothing: 
the  third  is  open.1  Both  are  dangerous.  They  pant  after  union  with 
England,  as  the  power  which  is  to  support  their  projects,  and  are  most 
determined  Antigallicans.  It  is  prognosticated  that  our  republic  is  to 
end  with  the  President's  life,  but  I  believe  they  will  find  themselves  all 
head  and  no  body." 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  351 

troducc  an  hereditary  branch  of  legislature,  &c."  Alexander 
Hamilton  then,  after  having  condemned  Mr.  Adams's  writings, 
and  most  particularly  Davila,  as  tending  to  weaken  the  present 
government,  declared  in  substance  as  follows:  'I  own  it  is  my 
own  opinion,  though  I  do  not  publish  it  in  Dan  or  Beersheba, 
that  the  present  government  is  not  that  which  will  answer  the 
ends  of  society,  by  giving  stability  and  protection  to  its  rights, 
and  that  it  will  probably  be  found  expedient  to  go  into  the  Bri- 
tish form.  However,  since  we  have  undertaken  the  experi- 
ment, I  am  for  giving  it  a  fair  course,  whatever  my  expecta- 
tions may  be.  The  success,  indeed,  so  far,  is  greater  than  I 
had  expected,  and,  therefore,  at  present,  success  seems  more 
probable  than  it  had  done  heretofore,  and  there  are  still  other 
and  other  stages  of  improvement  which,  if  the  present  does  not 
succeed,  may  be  tried,  and  ought  to  be  tried,  before  we  give  up 
the  republican  form  altogether;  for  that  mind  must  be  really 
depraved,  which  would  not  prefer  the  equality  of  political 
rights,  which  is  the  foundation  of  pure  republicanism,  if  it  can 
be  obtained  consistently  with  order.  Therefore,  whoever  by 
his  writings  disturbs  the  present  order  of  things,  is  really  blame- 
able,  however  pure  his  intentions  may  be,  and  he  was  sure  Mr. 
Adams's  were  pure.'  This  is  the  substance  of  a  declaration 
made  in  much  more  lengthy  terms,  and  which  seemed  to  be 
more  formal  than  usual  for  a  private  conversation  between 
two,  and  as  if  intended  to  qualify  some  less  guarded  expression 
which  had  been  dropped  on  former  occasions.  Thomas  Jeffer- 
son has  committed  it  to  writing  in  the  moment  of  A.  Hamilton's 
leaving  the  room." 

There  are  persons  who  have  censured  Mr.  Jefferson  for  thus 
committing  private  conversations  to  paper,  and  for  preserving 
them,  so  as  to  give  them  the  very  probable  chance  of  publicity; 
since  every  one  is  in  the  habit  of  expressing  himself  on  these 
occasions,  not  only  with  more  freedom  than  he  would  when 
writing  for  the  public,  but  also  more  loosely  and  inaccurately; 
and,  therefore,  opinions  which  he  may  never  have  intended  to 
pass  beyond  the  pale  of  his  intimate  and  confidential  friends,  are 
published  to  the  world;  and  opinions,  moreover,  are  given  as 


352  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

his,  which  he  might  not  have  deliberately  entertained.  There 
is  no  one  who  is  not  more  guarded  in  writing  than  in  conversa- 
tion; in  preparing  a  paper  for  publication,  than  one  intended 
only  for  the  eye  of  a  friend;  in  framing  a  deposition,  than  in 
making  a  less  solemn  statement,  yet  the  ethics,  they  say,  which 
would  justify  the  act  in  question,  would  confound  these  distinc- 
tions. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  it  may  be  said  that  the  speculative 
opinions  of  politicians  and  statesmen  stand  upon  a  different  foot- 
ing from  those  of  ordinary  men.  The  public  has  a  right  to 
know  the  sentiments  of  him  whom  they  entrust  with  political 
power;  for  whatever  confidence  they  may  have  in  his  integrity, 
they  are  aware  that  he  may,  under  an  unconscious  bias,  favour 
his  own  opinions  in  doubtful  cases.  Nor  can  any  man's  mere 
integrity  be  as  good  a  security  for  his  doing  right,  as  the  same 
integrity  coupled  with  his  interest;  for  in  the  first  case  he  is 
exposed  to  temptations,  from  which  in  the  last  he  is  exempt. 
These  considerations  are  at  once  so  obvious  and  so  cogent,  that 
the  people  always  insist  on  knowing  the  political  opinions  of 
their  agents,  and  these  profess  alw'ays  to  declare  them.  In  the 
case  of  those  public  functionaries,  indeed,  who  do  not  receive 
their  appointment  immediately  from  the  people,  there  is  often 
more  uncertainty  in  their  sentiments;  but,  according  to  the 
theory  of  our  government,  where  all  power  flows  from  the  peo- 
ple, and  is  intended  to  be  exercised  for  their  benefit,  the  right 
appears  to  be  the  same.  It  would  follow  then  that  the  people 
may  justly  claim  to  be  informed  of  the  acts  or  speeches  of  such 
civil  officers,  so  far  as  the  same  can  convey  information  of  their 
political  sentiments. 

Upon  the  whole,  this  seems  to  be  one  of  those  delicate  but  not 
uncommon  questions  among  casuists,  in  which  the  arguments 
on  both  sides  are  so  strong  that  it  cannot  always  be  decided 
in  one  way;  but  it  may  be  sometimes  right  and  sometimes 
wrong  to  treasure  up  and  to  communicate  the  disclosures  of 
private  intercourse.  Thus  we  would  say,  that  the  rule  ought 
not  to  be  the  same  for  an  officer  possessing  large  discretionary 
powers,  and  a  mere  subordinate;  for  a  case  in  which  there  had 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  353 

been  an  express  injunction  of  secrecy,  and  where  there  had 
been  no  such  precaution;  for  one  in  which  the  publication  was 
immediate,  and  another  where  it  had  been  postponed,  until, 
by  the  death  of  the  actors,  or  other  circumstances,  the  commu- 
nication could  no  longer  be  personally  injurious;  or  where  the 
sentiments  uttered  cast  an  imputation  on  the  moral  character, 
and  one  where  they  could  have  no  such  effect;  or,  lastly, 
where  the  publication  was  essential  to  the  vindication  of  the 
publisher,  and  where  it  was  altogether  gratuitous. 

Now  all  these  distinctions  serve  to  justify  Mr.  Jefferson,  the 
last  especially.  He  had  been  long  charged  by  his  enemies  with 
imputing  to  a  political  rival  opinions  and  designs  which  he  knew 
were  distasteful  to  the  American  people,  and  were  at  the  same 
time  unfounded,  with  a  view  of  injuring  that  rival  in  the  public 
estimation.  He  had  been  accused  of  a  systematic  opposition  to 
a  wise  and  patriotic  administration,  from  selfish  and  illiberal 
motives,  under  the  pretext  that  their  measures  were  intended 
to  prepare  the  people  for  a  government  of  greater  power  and 
splendour.  It  is  clear  then  that  he  had  a  direct  interest  in  show- 
ing that  his  previous  accusations  were  not  false,  nor  his  suspi- 
cions groundless,  by  exhibiting  the  private  unreserved  declara- 
tions of  the  individuals  themselves.  It  has  been  further 
objected  that  Mr.  Jefferson's  testimony  is  that  of  an  interested 
witness;  but  this  circumstance  can  only  effect  the  weight  of  his 
testimony,  not  the  right  to  adduce  it,  and  obtain  for  it  as  much 
as  it  is  fairly  worth  in  his  own  defence. 

But  he  may  be  justified  on  still  broader  ground.  Let  it  be 
granted  that  the  conversation,  as  detailed  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  ac- 
tually took  place:  if  he  conceived  the  sentiments  then  expressed 
to  be  dangerous  in  a  man  of  Colonel  Hamilton's  talents,station,  and 
popularity,  was  he  not  justified,*as  a  true  patriot  and  an  honest 
man,  in  opposing  his  further  acquisition  of  power,  in  endeavour- 
ing to  prevent  his  eventual  attainment  of  the  presidency,  and 
in  suspecting  the  object  and  tendency  of  his  favourite  measures? 
Every  candid  mind  will  answer  in  the  affirmative.  It  would 
naturally  seem  to  him  that  he  might,  not  merely  for  his  own  jus- 
tification, but  also  to  prevent  mischief  to  his  country,  avail  himself 

VOL.  I.— 45 


354  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

of  such  evidence  as  he  could  obtain,  without  an  immoral  or  dis- 
honourable act,  for  establishing  the  truth;  and  divulge  that 
which  the  people  had  a  right  to  know,  which  Colonel  Hamil- 
ton himself  was  under  a  moral  obligation  to  disclose,  and  was 
in  fact  at  no  pains  to  conceal.  It  may  be  further  remarked, 
that  as  to  the  political  sentiments  of  such  men  as  Alexander 
Hamilton,  historical  truth  has  its  claims,  and  that  one  who  had 
such  opportunities  of  knowing  them  as  Mr.  Jefferson,  would 
perhaps  have  been  unfaithful  to  posterity,  not  to  have  shed  on 
them  all  the  light  that  he  could. 

Jn  May,  a  consul  was  appointed  to  the  new  emperor  of  Mo- 
rocco; his  father  and  predecessor  having,  of  all  the  Barbary 
powers,  shown  the  most  friendly  disposition  towards  the  United 
States.  Mr.  Barclay,  of  Virginia,  who  received  the  appoint- 
ment, was  authorized  to  make  presents  to  the  persons  about 
the  emperor,  to  the  amount  of  10,000  dollars. 

Whatever  dissatisfaction  Mr.  Jefferson  may  have  felt  at  some 
of  the  measures  pursued  by  the  majority  in  Congress,  it  did  not 
make  him  insensible  to  the  prosperous  state  of  the  nation  at  that 
period,  nor  to  the  benign  agency  of  the  newly  adopted  govern- 
ment in  producing  so  happy  a  result.  He  thus  writes  to  Mr. 
Fulwar  Skipwith,  American  consul  in  France:  "In  general,  our 
affairs  are  proceeding  in  a  train  of  unparalleled  prosperity. 
This  arises  from  the  real  improvement  of  our  government;  from 
the  unbounded  confidence  reposed  in  it  by  the  people;  their 
zeal  to  support  it,  and  their  conviction  that  a-solid  union  is  the 
best  rock  of  their  safety;  from  the  favourable  seasons  which, 
for  some  years  past,  have  co-operated  with  a  fertile  soil  and 
genial  climate,  to  increase  the  productions  of  agriculture;  and 
from  the  growth  of  industry,  economy  and  domestic  manufac- 
tures. So  that,  I  believe,  I  may  say  with  truth,  that  there  is 
not  a  nation  under  the  sun  enjoying  more  present  prosperity, 
nor  with  more  in  prospect." 

To  Colonel  Humphreys  he,  about  the  same  time,  thus  bears 
testimony  to  the  state  of  the  public  credit;  "our  bank  was  filled 
with  subscriptions  the  moment  it  was  opened.  Eight  millions 
were  the  whole  permitted  to  be  subscribed,  of  which  two  mil- 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  355 

lions  were  deposited  in  cash,  the  residue  to  be  public  paper. 
Every  other  symptom  is  equally  favourable  to  public  credit." 
This  sudden  influx  of  good  fortune  was  attended  with  its  usual 
abuse,  a  disposition  to  exchange  the  regular  pursuits  of  indus- 
try for  adventurous  traffic,  and  whatever  business  held  out  the 
temptations  of  a  lottery.  Mr.  Jefferson  tells  Mr.  Gouverneur 
Morris  in  August  of  this  year:  "Our  public  credit  is  good,  but 
the  abundance  of  paper  has  produced  a  spirit  of  gambling  in 
the  funds  which  has  laid  up  our  ships  at  the  wharves,  as  too 
slow  instruments  of  profit,  and  has  even  disarmed  the  hand  of 
the  tailor  of  his  needle  and  thimble.  They  say  the  evil  will 
cure  itself,  I  wish  it  may;  but  I  have  rarely  seen  a  gamester 
cured,  even  by  the  disasters  of  his  vocation." 

The  effect  of  the  speculations  in  the  funds  on  the  habits  and 
character  of  the  people,  especially  in  the  cities  and  towns,  was 
greater  than  can  well  be  imagined  by  one  who  was  not  an  eye 
witness.  The  claims  on  the  government  which  had  currently 
sold  in  the  market  for  three  or  four  shillings  in  the  pound,  and 
occasionally  for  even  less,  rose,  after  the  debt  was  funded,  first 
to  par,  and  then  to  25  per  cent,  above  it.  The  fortunes  which 
had  been  suddenly  made  by  this  extraordinary  increase  of  price 
dazzled  the  imaginations  of  men,  and  seduced  numbers  from 
their  ordinary  pursuits  to  engage  in  the  business  of  speculation; 
and  as  the  wild  lands  of  the  country  bore  a  very  low  price  in 
the  market,  from  the  facility  with  which  they  were  obtained  in 
many  of  the  states,  they  also  furnished  a  ready  means  on  which 
this  gambling  spirit  could  exercise  itself.  The  field  was  the 
greater,  as  in  some  of  the  states  which  had  the  largest  portions 
of  vacant  territory,  by  an  imperfection  in  their  system  of  land 
laws,  the  same  land  may  have  been  comprehended  in  several 
different  grants,  and  in  these  grants  the  state  governments  were 
not  considered  as  guaranteeing  the  land  to  the  patentee.  They 
merely  gave  him  authority  to  possess  himself  of  such  unoccu- 
pied land  as  he  could  find,  for  which  authority,  or  "warrant," 
he  paid  some  trifling  sum — about  two  cents  an  acre;  and  the 
duty  of  finding  land  which  had  no  previous  owner,  on  which  he 
could  make  his  location,  and  of  having  a  survey  of  the  land,  so 


356  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

as  to  afford  the  material  facts  for  his  patent  or  grant,  devolved 
wholly  on  the  holder  of  the  warrant.  Under  this  vicious  sys- 
tem, so  fruitful  of  inaccuracy,  and  so  encouraging  to  fraud,  the 
market  was  glutted  with  wild  lands;  much  of  which  being  em- 
braced in  several  different  patents,  could  not  be  obtained  but 
by  a  long  and  expensive  course  of  litigation,  and  much  too  was 
utterly  worthless  when  obtained.  The  spirit  of  speculation 
which  was  thus  engendered,  not  only  lessened  the  sum  of  useful 
industry  and  profitable  enterprise,  but  greatly  weakened  the 
sense  of  justice  and  private  integrity;  and  the  tendency  of  these 
sudden  acquisitions  of  wealth,  by  speculations,  whether  fair  or 
fraudulent,  and  the  hopes  they  would  naturally  excite  in  others, 
begat  a  taste  for  luxury  and  expense  that  greatly  counteracted 
the  extraordinary  sources  of  prosperity  which  the  nation  then 
enjoyed. 

One  of  the  measures  taken  by  the  National  Assembly  of 
France  to  encourage  their  navigation  gave  great  cause  of  com- 
plaint to  the  United  States.  This  was  a  discriminating  duty  of 
62^  livres  per  hogshead  between  their  ships  and  ours,  by  the 
operation  of  which,  our  vessels  must  necessarily  be  excluded 
from  their  ports;  and  the  measure  was  the  more  objectionable, 
as  the  whole  shipping  of  France  being  inadequate  to  the  wants 
of  her  foreign  commerce,  and  this  discrimination  giving  their 
vessels  a  monopoly  of  the  commerce  with  the  United  States,  a 
void  would  be  left  in  other  branches  of  their  trade  which  would 
be  filled  by  the  English,  Dutch  and  Swedes,  so  that  the  policy 
would  have  the  effect  of  injuring  us  without  benefitting  them- 
selves. The  illiberality  and  impolicy  of  this  course  were 
pointed  out  by  Mr.  Jefferson  to  Mr.  Short.  It  seems  to  have 
been  meant  as  a  retaliation  on  our  tonnage  duty  on  foreign 
vessels;  but  this  was  represented  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  as  merely 
equivalent  to  certain  port  charges  in  France,  under  the  specific 
forms  of  fees  for  anchorage,  buoys  and  beacons,  or  of  fees  to 
measurers,  weighers  and  gaugers. 

In  speaking  of  the  French  West  Indies,  he  requests  Mr.  Short, 
while  he  disclaims  all  views  of  conquest  on  the  part  of  the  Unit- 
ed States,  to  intimate  with  caution  and  delicacy,  the  natural 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  357 

claim  which  every  nation  seems  to  have  to  trade  with  its  neigh- 
bours. "In  casting  our  eyes  over  the  earth,"  he  writes,  "we  see 
no  instance  of  a  nation  forbidden  as  we  are,  by  foreign  powers, 
to  deal  with  neighbours,  and  obliged  by  them  to  carry  into  an- 
other hemisphere  the  mutual  supplies  necessary  to  relieve 
mutual  wants.  This  is  not  merely  a  question  between  the 
foreign  power  and  our  neighbour.  We  are  interested  in  it 
equally  with  the  latter,  and  nothing  but  moderation,  at  least 
with  respect  to  us,  can  render  us  indifferent  to  its  continuance." 
He  thus  concludes  his  remarks:  "In  policy,  if  not  in  justice, 
they  should  be  disposed  to  avoid  oppression,  which  falling  on  us 
as  well  as  on  their  colonies,  might  tempt  us  to  act  together." 
This  part  of  the  letter  was  suggested,  as  he  says  in  a  note 
which  presented  it  to  the  consideration  of  General  Washington, 
by  the  "ill  humour  into  which  the  French  colonies  were  getting; 
and  the  little  dependence  on  the  troops  sent  thither,  may  pro- 
duce a  hesitation  in  the  National  Assembly  as  to  the  conditions 
they  will  impose  in  their  constitution.  In  a  moment  of  hesita- 
tion, small  matters  may  influence  their  decision.  They  may 
see  the  impolicy  of  insisting  on  particular  conditions,  which, 
operating  as  grievances  on  us,  might  produce  a  concert  of  ac- 
tion." The  President  seems  to  have  consented  to  the  sugges- 
tions, especially  as  Mr.  Short  was  to  exercise  his  discretion, 
how  he  should  make  them  known,  and  whether  he  should  com- 
municate them  or  not. 

In  a  letter  to  General  Knox,  the  Secretary  of  War,  which 
noticed  the  claim  of  the  South  Carolina  Yazoo  company,  Mr. 
Jefferson  thus  speaks  of  the  territorial  rights  of  the  Indians:  "I 
am  of  opinion  that  government  should  firmly  maintain  this 
ground;that  the  Indians  have  a  right  to  the  occupation  of  their 
lands,  independent  of  the  states  within  whose  chartered  lines 
they  happen  to  be;  that  until  they  cede  them  by  treaty,  or  other 
transaction  equivalent  to  a  treaty,  no  act  of  a  state  can  give  a 
right  to  such  lands;  that  neither  under  the  present  constitution, 
nor  the  ancient  confederation,  had  any  state  or  person  a  right 
to  treat  with  the  Indians,  without  the  consent  of  the  general 
government;  that  that  consent  has  never  been  given  to  any 


358  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

treaty  for  the  cession  of  the  lands  in  question;  that  the  govern- 
ment is  determined  to  exert  all  its  energy  for  the  patronage 
and  protection  of  the  rights  of  the  Indians,  and  the  preservation 
of  peace  between  the  United  States  and  them;  and  that  if  any 
settlements  are  made  on  lands  not  ceded  by  them,  without  the 
previous  consent  of  the  United  States,  the  government  will  think 
itself  bound,  not  only  to  declare  to  the  Indians  that  such  settle- 
ments are  without  the  authority  or  protection  of  the  United 
States,  but  to  remove  them  also  by  the  public  force." 

These  doctrines  are  repugnant  not  only  to  the  claims  set  up 
by  the  state  of  Georgia  to  the  Indian  lands  within  its  limits,  but 
also  to  the  doctrines  of  exclusive  sovereignty  which  have  been 
asserted  by  South  Carolina,  and  which,  it  deserves  to  be  re- 
marked, Mr.  Jefferson's  authority  is  mainly,  relied  upon  to  .sup- 
port. But  an  abstract  doctrine  will  appear  very  different  to 
most  men  when  it  is  resorted  to  for  the  purpose  of  upholding 
the  claims  of  a  private  company,  which  originated  in  corrup- 
tion, and  when  it  is  asserted  by  a  sovereign  state,  whose  citi- 
zens know  themselves  injured,  and  believe  themselves  oppress- 
ed; and  the  argument  which  seems  very  satisfactory,  when 
used  to  disappoint  the  rapacity  of  those  who  had  succeeded  in 
buying  up  the  majority  in  a  state  legislature,  appears  quite 
illogical  when  urged  against  Kentucky  for  resisting  an  uncon- 
stitutional law,  or  South  Carolina  for  vindicating  the  supposed 
rights  and  interests  of  all  the  southern  states;  so  true  is  it  that, 
even  in  questions  purely  speculative,  circumstances  which,  in 
the  eye  of  reason,  cannot  effect  the  argument,  do  often  entirely 
control  our  decisions. 

Governor  Pinckney,  of  South  Carolina,  had  this  summer  pro- 
posed that  our  government  should,  by  a  compact  with  the 
Governor  of  Florida,  agree  that  each  party  should  surrender  to 
the  other  all  fugitives  from  justice.  Mr.  Jefferson,  while  he 
admits  that  the  perpetrators  of  acknowledged  crime  ought  to 
be  surrendered,  suggests  the  difficulty  of  drawing  the  line  be- 
tween offences  of  that  character,  and  those  which  are  "ren- 
dered criminal  by  tyrannical  laws  only;"  and,  expressing  his 
doubts  whether  the  Legislature  of  the  United  States  would 
sanction  a  convention  for  this  subject,  he  thought  that  we  ought 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  359 

not  to  give  the  Governor  of  Florida  grounds  to  expect  that  \ve 
would  deliver  up  fugitives  from  his  government. 

It  may  be  here  remarked,  that  at  every  step  in  the  earlier 
part  of  our  history,  as  on  the  present  occasion,  we  meet  with 
some  obstacle  or  difficulty  which  has  since  disappeared,  and 
which  has  yielded  either  to  our  growing  power,  or  improvement 
in  legislation,  or  to  some  fortunate  incident.  By  the  subsequent 
acquisition  of  Louisiana  and  Florida,  those  countries  can  no 
longer  afford  an  asylum  to  our  runaway  slaves,  which  was  the 
chief  evil  against  which  the  proposition  of  Governor  Pinckney 
meant  to  guard. 

In  consequence  of  the  insurrection  of  the  blacks  in  St.  Do- 
mingo, the  Assembly  of  that  colony  sent  a  deputy  to  the  United 
States  to  obtain  the  aid  of  military  stores  and  provisions,  and 
which  Mr.  Ternant,  the  French  minister,  succeeded  in  obtain- 
ing of  the  secretaries  of  the  treasury  and  war;  the  president  and 
secretary  of  state  being  then  in  Virginia.  Before  these  sup- 
plies arrived,  the  Colonial  Assembly  sent  two  other  deputies 
with  yet  larger  demands.  They  applied  to  Mr.  Jefferson,  with 
the  consent  of  Mr.  Ternant,  and  proposed  that  the  required 
supplies  should  be  furnished,  either  on  account  of  the  money 
which  we  owed  to  France,  or  of  the  bills  of  exchange  which 
they  were  authorized  to  draw  on  France;  or  lastly,  that  we 
should  guarantee  their  bills,  so  that  they  could  dispose  of  them 
to  merchants,  and  make  the  purchase  for  themselves.  They 
were  told  that  the  two  last  were  beyond  the  power  of  the  ex- 
ecutive, and  that  the  first  could  be  done  only  with  the  consent 
of  the  minister  of  France.  This  consent  having  been  obtained, 
a  small  supply  was  afforded. 

It  seems  that  the  application  was  an  object  of  jealousy  of  the 
French  minister  and  consul-general,  who  considered  it  as  indi- 
cating a  desire  of  independence  on  the  part  of  the  colony.  Mr. 
Jefferson  states  to  Mr.  Short  that  this  would  be  neither  desira- 
ble nor  attainable  on  their  parts,  and  that  it  would  be  repug- 
nant to  the  interests  of  the  United  States;  and  he  suggests,  as  a 
probability,  that  if  the  colonies  should  become  disgusted  either 
with  France  or  the  United  States,  they  might  put  themselves 
under  the  protection  of  Great  Britain. 


360 


CHAPTER  XV. 


Third  session  of  the  first  Congress.  The  commerce  of  the  United  States 
with  France  and  England  compared.  St.  Clair's  defeat.  Appor- 
tionment bill.  Mr.  Jefferson  advises  the  President  to  negative  it. 
Conversation  with  the  President  on  his  proposed  retirement.  Causes 
of  the  public  discontents.  The  power  to  promote  the  general  welfare. 
Collision  between  Jefferson  and  Hamilton.  Official  correspondence 
•  with  Mr.  Hammond,  the  British  minister — Pagan's  case — tampering 
with  the  Creek  Indians — complaints  of  each  government.  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son's answer  to  Mr.  Hammond's  charges.  The  Post-office.  Surren- 
dering of  foreign  fugitives.  Relative  powers  of  the  legislative  and 
executive  branches.  Negotiation  with  Algiers.  Paul  Jones. 

1791—1792. 

Congress  met  on  the  24th  of  October,  according  to  adjourn- 
ment, and  proceeded  to  carry  into  execution  other  important 
powers  on  which  they  had  not  previously  acted,  or  acted  only 
by  resolution;  as  in  establishing  the  post-office  and  post  roads, 
establishing  a  mint  and  regulating  the  coins,  and  providing  a 
uniform  militia  system  throughout  the  United  States. 

In  December,  Mr.  Jefferson  laid  before  the  President  a  com- 
parative table  of  the  extent  and  value  of  the  commerce  of  the 
United  States  with  France  and  England,  which  he  had  prepared 
with  unwearied  industry.  His  motive  is  thus  stated  in  his  note* 
to  the  president:  "As  the  conditions  of  our  commerce  with  the 
French  and  British  dominions  are  important,  and  a  moment  seems 
to  be  approaching  when  it  may  be  useful  that  both  should  be  ac- 
curately understood,  I  have  thrown  a  representation  of  them  into 

*Jeff.  Cor.III.  p.  142. 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  361 

the  form  of  a  table,  showing  at  one  view  how  the  principal  ar- 
ticles interesting  to  our  agriculture  and  navigation  stand  in  the 
European  and  American  dominions  of  these  two  powers." 

According  to  this  table,  the  trade  in  wheat,  flour,  rice,  and 
other  grain,  salted  fish,  beef  and  pork,  whale  oil,  tar,  pitch,  and 
turpentine,  are  on  a  more  favourable  footing  in  France  than  in 
Great  Britain,  in  which  some  of  them  are  even  prohibited; 
while  indigo  is  the  only  article  which  is  subjected  to  a  higher 
duty  than  in  Great  Britain.  But,  notwithstanding  this  difference 
of  encouragement,  the  exports  are  five  times  as  great  to  Eng- 
land as  to  France,  and  the  imports  are  nine  times  as  great. 

The  French  shipping  employed  in  the  trade  is  but  half  of 
the  American,  which  is  19,000  tons.  But  the  British  shipping 
is  three  times  as  much  as  the  American;  the  latter,  however, 
is  39,000  tons. 

In  the  West  Indies  the  trade  with  the  French  colonies  is 
more  extensive,  and  the  footing  not  materially  different.  With 
both  nations  it  is  subject  to  general  prohibitions,  which  are  oc- 
casionally removed.  Our  exports  to  the  French  islands  amount- 
ed to  3,284,656  dollars;  to  the  English,  2,357,583  dollars.  The 
imports  from  the  French  islands  are  1,913,212  dollars;  from 
the  English,  1,319,954  dollars.  Our  tonnage  in  the  French 
trade  is  97,236  tons,  and  with  the  English  the  trade  is  prohibited. 
The  French  tonnage  employed  in  the  trade  is  3,959  tons,  and 
the  English  is  107,959  tons. 

From  this  comparison  it  was  manifest  that  in  considering  the 
united  interests  both  of  our  agriculture,  commerce,  and  navi- 
gation, that  of  England  was  most  profitable,  by  being  the  most 
extensive,  but  that  with  France  most  deserved  encouragement, 
as  it  was  far  the  most  beneficial  for  its  extent,  by  affording 
more  employment  to  our  shipping. 

The  whole  tonnage  in  the  trade  with  Great  Britain  amounted 
to  266,124  tons,  while  the  whole  in  the  French  trade  was  less 
than  half,  130,201  tons.  But  of  the  trade  to  the  British  islands 
they  had  more  than  five-sixths,  or  in  the  proportion  of  226,953 
tons  to  39,171  tons;  and  of  the  French  trade  we  had  eight-ninths, 

VOL.  L— 46 


362  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

or  116,409  to  13,792;  and  our  tonnage  in  the  French  trade  was 
more  than  three  times  as  great  as  it  was  in  the  British. 

It  is  well  worth  remark  that  cotton  is  not  mentioned  among 
our  staples,  though  in  less  than  ten  years  from  that  time  it  con- 
stituted the  most  valuable  of  our  exports,  and  in  thirty  years 
was  worth  more  than  all  the  rest  put  together. 

Tobacco,  wood,  pot  and  pearl  ash,  flaxseed,  in  the  European 
trade,  and  Indian  corn,  salted  pork,  horses  and  mules,  live  provi- 
sions, tar,  pitch,  and  turpentine,  in  the  West  Indies,  are  on  the 
same  footing  with  both  nations. 

At  the  close  of  the  year,  the  government  received  information 
of  General  St.  Glair's  defeat  by  the  Miami  Indians,  on  the  4th 
of  November,  with  the  loss  of  upwards  of  600  men.  This  battle 
was  gained  by  an  inferior  force  on  the  part  of  the  red  men,  and 
accorded  with  the  ordinary  result  in  their  first  conflicts  with 
the  whites,  until  dear-bought  experience  has  taught  them  that 
nothing  less  than  a  correspondent  vigilance  can  protect  them 
against  a  surprise,  which  the  Indian  warrior  surpasses  all  others 
both  in  contriving  and  improving  to  the  best  advantage.  The 
battle  ground  was  on  the  western  border  of  what  is  now  the 
populous  state  of  Ohio,  but  was  then  not  even  a  territorial  go- 
vernment. 

A  bill  for  a  new  apportionment  of  representatives,  under  the 
late  census,  afforded  the  first  occasion  for  the  President  to  exer- 
cise his  negative  on  an  act  of  the  two  houses  of  Congress.  This 
bill  had  fixed  the  ratio  of  inhabitants  at  30,000,  and,  instead  of 
applying  this  number  to  the  population  of  each  state  separately, 
it  divided  the  whole  population  by  the  number  30,000,  and  then 
distributed  the  quotient  120  among  the  states  according  to  their 
relative  population:  by  which  process  some  of  the  states  had  a 
greater  number  of  representatives  than  they  were  entitled  to 
on  the  assumed  ratio.  In  other  words,  there  was  inequality  by 
this  process  as  well  as  the  other:  it  merely  fell  on  different 
states,  and  happened  to  be  less  than  by  the  other  rule. 

This  subject  had  afforded  occasion  for  warm  debate,  as  it 
involved  the  question  of  the  relative  weight  of  the  states.  Va- 
rious ratios  had  been  proposed  without  success;  and  the  question 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  363 

was  not  settled  until  after  a  conference  of  the  two  houses. 
When  the  bill  was  submitted  to  the  president,  his  cabinet  were 
as  usual  divided  about  it — Mr.  Jefferson  and  Mr.  Randolph 
thinking  the  law  to  violate  the  meaning  of  the  constitution,  and 
Mr.  Hamilton  and  General  Knox  doubting  about  it,  but  advis- 
ing the  consent.  The  arguments  of  the  former  prevailed,  and 
the  bill  was  returned  with  the  president's  reasons;  in  conse- 
quence of  which  another  bill  was  introduced,  raising  the  ratio 
to  33,000,  and  assigning  to  each  state  its  number  of  represen- 
tatives, without  regard  to  the  fractions,  as  had  been  originally 
proposed  in  the  Senate,  and  it  thus  finally  passed  both  houses. 

It  appears  from  Mr.  Jefferson's  diary  that  on  the  last  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1792,  he  had  a  conversation  with  the  president  on  the 
subject  of  the  post-office,  of  which  he  remarked,  that,  since  it 
appeared  by  the  bill  recently  passed,  that  it  was  not  regarded 
as  a  revenue  law,  but  one  for  the  general  accommodation  of 
the  citizens,  he  thought  it  appertained  to  the  State  Department: 
that  it  would  be  proper  it  should  be  so  regarded  for  another 
reason,  on  account  of  the  great  influence  and  patronage  already 
attached  to  the  Treasury  Department,  which  threatened  to  be  too 
great  for  that  of  the  President  himself:  that  he  could  have  no  per- 
sonal motive  for  this  suggestion,  as  he  had  determined  on  with- 
drawing from  public  life  whenever  the  president  retired.  Some 
interruptions  to  the  conversation  taking  place,  General  Wash- 
ington asked  him  to  breakfast  the  next  morning:  He  attended 
accordingly,  and  they  having  retired  to  his  room,  Mr.  Jefferson  un- 
folded his  plan  for  the  post-office,  to  which  General  Washington 
having  given  "such  an  approbation  of  it  as  he  usually  permitted 
himself  on  any  first  suggestion,"  and  desiring  it  to  be  committed 
to  writing,  he,  during  that  pause  of  conversation  which  follows 
a  business  closed,  said,  in  an  affectionate  tone,  that  he  felt  much 
concern  at  the  intimation  Mr.  Jefferson  had  given  of  retiring 
when  he  did:  that,  as  to  himself,  many  motives  obliged  him  to 
withdraw:  that  he  had,  through  the  war  and  at  its  close,  uniform- 
ly declared  his  resolution  to  retire,  and  never  to  act  in  any  public 
office:  that  he  had  retired:  that  the  new  government,  however, 
being  found  evidently  too  inefficacious,  and  his  aid  being  sup- 


364  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

posed  of  some  consequence  towards  bringing  the  people  to  ac- 
quiesce in  a  government  of  sufficient  efficacy,  he  had  consented 
to  come  into  the  convention,  and  afterwards,  from  the  same 
motives,  to  take  a  part  in  the  new  government:  that  were  he 
to  continue  longer,  it  might  give  room  to  say  that,  having  tasted 
the  sweets  of  office,  he  could  not  do  without  them:  that  he  really 
felt  himself  growing  old;  his  health  less  firm;  his  memory,  always 
bad,  becoming  worse;  and  perhaps  his  other  mental  faculties 
showing  a  decay  of  which  he  himself  was  insensible:  that  in 
addition  to  this  apprehension,  he  found  his  activity  lessened; 
business,  therefore,  more  irksome;  and  his  desire  for  tranquillity 
and  retirement  irresistible:  that,  obliged  as  he  was,  from  these 
considerations,  to  retire,  he  should  consider  it  as  unfortunate  if 
that  should  bring  on  the  retirement  of  the  great  officers  of  the 
government,  as  it  might  produce  a  shock  on  the  public  mind  of 
dangerous  consequence. 

Mr.  Jefferson  replied  that  no  man  had  ever  been  less  desirous 
of  public  office  than  himself;  that  the  circumstance  of  a  perilous 
war,  which  had  put  the  services  of  all  in  requisition,  had  in- 
duced him  to  undertake  the  government  of  Virginia:  that  he 
had,  both  before  and  after  that  period,  refused  repeated  appoint- 
ments of  Congress  to  that  sort  of  office,  which  of  all  others  would 
have  been  most  agreeable  to  him:  that  at  the  end  of  two  years 
he  resigned  the  government  of  Virginia,  with  the  intention  of 
never  again  engaging  in  public  life;  that  a  domestic  loss,  how- 
ever, made  absence  and  change  appear  expedient,  and  he  had 
therefore  accepted  a  foreign  mission  for  two  years;  at  the  close 
of  which,  Dr.  Franklin,  having  left  France,  had  accepted  the 
appointment  to  supply  his  place;  and  though  he  had  continued 
in  it  three  or  four  years,  it  was  always  under  the  expectation 
of  remaining  only  a  year  or  two  longer:  the  revolution  in  France 
then  coming  on,  he  had  become  so  interested  in  that  great  event, 
that  when  he  brought  his  family  home,  he  had  expected  to  re- 
turn and  await  the  close  of  the  revolution,  as  the  term  of  his 
public  life:  that  on  his  return  to  America  he  found  himself  ap- 
pointed to  his  present  office,  while  it  was  known  that  he  had 
accepted  it  with  reluctance,  and  only  under  a  belief  that  he 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  3G5 

could  be  more  serviceable  in  America  than  in  France,  and  with 
a  firm  resolution  to  indulge  his  wish  for  retirement  at  "no  very 
distant  day:"  that  when,  therefore,  by  an  expression  in  a 
letter  from  General  Washington  of  April  1st,  1791,  he  disco- 
vered his  intention  to  retire  ere  long,  his  own  mind  was  imme- 
diately decided  to  make  that  the  epoch  of  withdrawing  from 
labours  of  which  he  was  heartily  tired:  that  he  did  not  think 
his  colleagues  in  the  administration  had  any  thought  of  retiring; 
on  the  contrary,  that  at  "a  late  meeting  of  the  trustees  of  the 
sinking  fund,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  had  developed  the 
plan  he  intended  to  pursue,  and  that  it  embraced  years  in 
view." 

General  Washington  then  remarked,  that  he  considered  the 
Department  of  State  as  of  much  more  importance  than  that  of 
the  Treasury,  which  was  limited  to  the  single  object  of  revenue, 
and  that  the  retirement  of  the  Secretary  of  State  would  be 
more  noticed:  that  though  the  government  had  set  out  with  "a 
pretty  general  good  will  of  the  public,  yet  that  symptoms  of 
discontent  had  lately  manifested  themselves  far  beyond  expec- 
tation, and  to  what  height  they  might  rise,  in  case  of  too  great 
a  change  in  the  administration,  could  not  be  foreseen." 

Mr.  Jefferson  then  remarked  that,  in  his  opinion,  there  was 
but  a  single  source  of  these  discontents.  That  they  originated 
in  the  Treasury  department:  that  a  system  had  been  there 
contrived  for  deluging  the  states  with  paper  money,  instead  of 
gold  and  silver;  and  for  withdrawing  our  citizens  from  the  pur- 
suits of  commerce,  manufactures,  buildings,  and  other  branches 
of  useful  industry,  to  occupy  themselves  in  a  species  of  gambling, 
destructive  of  morality,  and  which  had  introduced  its  poison 
even  into  the  government.  It  was  a  well  known  fact,  he  said, 
that  particular  members  of  the  legislature,  while  the  laws 
alluded  to  were  on  the  carpet,  had  "feathered  their  nests"  with 
the  paper,  had  then  voted  for  the  laws,  and  had  since  lent  all 
their  efforts  to  the  establishment  and  enlargement  of  the  system; 
that  they  "had  chained  it  about  our  necks"  for  a  great  length 
of  time,  and  in  order  to  preserve  their  power,  had  aided  in 
making  such  legislative  constructions  of  the  constitution  as  made 


366  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

it  a  very  different  thing  from  what  the  people  believed  it  to  be 
when  they  adopted  it:  that  they  had  now  brought  forward  a 
proposition,  the  decision  of  which  would  determine  whether  we 
lived  under  a  limited  or  unlimited  government. 

In  answer  to  the  president's  inquiry,  Mr.  Jefferson  said  that 
he  alluded  to  Mr.  Hamilton's  late  report  on  manufactures, 
which  "under  colour  of  giving  bounties  for  the  encouragement 
of  particular  manufactures,  meant  to  establish  the  doctrine  that 
the  power  to  collect  taxes  to  provide  for  the  general  welfare  of 
the  United  States,  permitted  Congress  to  take  every  thing  under 
their  management  which  they  should  deem  for  the  public  welfare, 
and  which  is  susceptible  of  the  application  of  money;  conse- 
quently that  the  subsequent  enumeration  of  their  powers  was 
not  the  description  to  which  resort  must  be  had,  and  did  not  at 
all  constitute  their  authority:"  that  this  was  a  different  question 
from  that  of  the  bank,  which  was  thought  an  incident  to  an 
enumerated  power:  that  therefore  the  decision  on  this  new  pro- 
position was  looked  to  with  great  anxiety:  that  he  hoped  it 
would  be  rejected,  and  if  it  should  be,  it  would  show  that  things 
were  returning  into  their  true  channel:  that  at  any  rate  he 
'looked  forward  to  the  increased  representation  in  the  legisla- 
ture, which  would  soon  take  place,  for  keeping  the  general  con- 
stitution on  its  true  ground,  and  for  removing  much  of  the 
discontent  which  had  shown  itself.'  In  his  note  of  this  conver- 
sation, made  the  following  day,  Mr.  Jefferson  remarks  that  he 
had  stated  it  nearly  as  much  at  length  as  it  really  was;  pre- 
serving the  expressions  themselves  where  he  could  recollect 
them,  and  always  faithfully  their  substance. 

If  the  preceding  note  shows  that  Mr.  Jefferson  and  Colonel 
Hamilton  differed  widely  about  the  construction  of  the  consti- 
tution and  the  administration  of  the  government,  a  note  which 
the  former  made  in  his  diary,  about  ten  days  afterwards,  shows 
that  it  amounted,  as  a  difference  of  opinion  too  often  does,  to 
personal  distrust  and  ill  will.  He  states  that  about  the  latter 
end  of  the  preceding  November,  Colonel  Hamilton  had  induced 
the  French  minister,  Ternant,  to  enter  into  a  discussion  with 
Mr.  Jefferson  towards  a  commercial  treaty,  though  he  had  re- 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  307 

ceivcd  no  instructions  from  his  government  on  the  subject,  and 
further  prevailed  on  the  president  to  join  in  the  proposal,  to 
which  Mr.  Jefferson  objected,  as  it  would  be  binding  on  us  and 
not  on  them;  but  that  he  finally  acquiesced,  and  prepared 
the  project  of  a  treaty,  which  rated  the  duties  as  they  then 
stood.  To  this  plan  Hamilton  objected,  and  prepared  a  higher 
tariff  of  duties.  Mr.  Jefferson  supposed  that  this  course  was 
adopted  with  the  French  minister  in  order  that  Hammond,  the 
British  minister,  who  in  like  manner  had  no  power  to  form  a 
treaty,  might  be  enabled  to  have  a  similar  discussion.  Regard- 
ing this  as  a  snare,  he  opposed  it  warmly,  and  succeeded  in 
resisting  it,  against  the  wish  both  of  Hamilton  and  the  president. 
"His  scheme  evidently  was,"  says  Mr.  Jefferson,  "to  get  us  en- 
gaged first  with  Ternant,  merely  that  he  might  have  a  pretext 
to  engage  us  on  the  same  ground  with  Hammond,  taking  care 
at  the  same  time,  by  an  extravagant  tariff,  to  render  it  impos- 
sible we  should  come  to  any  conclusion  with  Ternant;  probably 
meaning  at  the  same  time  to  propose  terms  so  favourable  to 
Great  Britain  as  would  attach  us  to  that  country  by  treaty." 
On  one  of  those  occasions  he  had  asserted  that  our  commerce  with 
Great  Britain  and  her  colonies  was  on  a  much  more  favourable 
footing  than  with  France  and  her  colonies,  and  it  was  this  asser- 
tion which  suggested  to  Mr.  Jefferson  to  prepare  the  compara- 
tive view  which  has  been  noticed.  He  at  the  same  time 
expresses  his  opinion  that  Hamilton  communicated  to  Hammond 
all  the  views  of  our  cabinet,  and  "knew  from  him  in  return  the 
views  of  the  British  court."  He  then  mentions  two  facts  that 
he  thinks  prove  this  confidential  intercourse,  and  although  they 
form  some  presumptive  evidence  that  these  gentlemen  thus 
acted  in  concert,  yet  they  will  hardly  be  considered  as  amount- 
ing to  proof  of  a  gross  violation  of  propriety,  not  to  say  of  fideli- 
ty, on  the  part  of  one  whose  character  has  always  been  deemed 
fair  and  honourable,  even  by  those  who  deprecated  his  politics. 
These  criminations  and  suspicions  which  our  leading  politi- 
cians of  both  parties  entertained  of  their  opponents,  are  regarded 
with  no  pleasure,  whether  they  are  credited  or  not.  If  we 
assent  to  them,  we  think  worse  of  the  party  accused;  and  if  we 


368  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

discredit  them,  we  think  worse  of  the  accuser.  In  either  case 
they  tend  to  weaken  our  confidence  in  the  purity  and  integrity 
of  our  public  men,  and  make  us  consider  all  professions  of  pa- 
triotism as  hollow  and  interested.  Even  where  they  are  neither 
implicitly  received  nor  rejected,  they  leave  the  mind  in  a  com- 
fortless state  of  doubt  and  uncertainty,  not  only  as  to  the  cha- 
racters of  individuals,  but  also  as  to  the  truth  of  history.  At 
the  same  time  we  may  draw  from  them  this  salutary  lesson,  that 
where  we  see  illiberal  jealousies  and  unfounded  suspicions  attach 
to  those  in  whom  our  own  confidence  is  unshaken,  we  may  learn 
to  question  the  correctness  of  those  sentiments  of  distrust  with 
which  our  party  or  ourselves  chance  to  view  our  political  ad- 
versaries. The  great  parties  in  the  United  States  had  abun- 
dant opportunities  of  applying  this  test  of  their  own  accuracy 
in  judging  of  public  men;  for  the  leaders  of  both  were  unhesi- 
tatingly accused,  and  by  many  believed  too,  to  sacrifice  the 
interest  of  their  own  country  to  that  of  another — of  England  or 
France  especially;  and  that  confidence  in  their  uprightness, 
which  treats  the  accusations  made  against  one  party  as  ground- 
less, in  spite  of  wide  spread  suspicions  and  plausible  shows  of 
evidence,  should  be  sufficient,  in  the  scales  of  even-handed  jus- 
tice, to  ensure  the  acquittal  of  the  other;  for  in  both  there  has 
been  the  same  presumptive  evidence  of  guilt,  and  the  same 
countervailing  testimony  of  innocence. 

It  must  also  be  admitted  that,  after  giving  all  due  credit  to 
the  patriotism  and  fidelity  of  public  men,  it  does  happen  that 
in  the  violent  collisions  of  personal  and  party  strife,  the  desire 
of  humbling  our  adversaries  and  effecting  our  own  triumph  may 
sometimes  make  us  overlook  the  public  interest,  and  under  false 
semblances  of  right,  sacrifice  the  interests  of  our  country  to  that 
of  some  other.  Thus,  one  party  believing  they  saw  the  dearest 
political  interests  of  the  United  States  connected  with  the  suc- 
cess of  France,  and  the  other  seeing  in  the  same  success  nothing 
but  danger  to  the  authority  of  law  and  order,  persuaded  them- 
selves that,  provided  this  great  object  of  their  wishes  were  at- 
tained, minor  considerations  should  be  overlooked.  Upon  this 
principle  Mr.  Hamilton  may  have  been  willing  to  cede  some 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  369 

small  advantage  of  trade  or  privilege,  to  the  paramount  benefit 
of  an  alliance  with  Great  Britain;  just  as  his  political  opponents 
were  willing  to  sacrifice  the  profits  of  neutrality  to  the  interests 
of  France,  which  they  honestly  believed  to  be  the  interests  of 
civil  freedom. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  Mr.  Jefferson's  time  and  thoughts 
were  engrossed  by  these  party  and  personal  contests.  He  was 
now  called  upon  to  vindicate  the  rights  and  dignity  of  his  coun- 
try in  a  long  and  laborious  correspondence,  first  with  the  minister 
of  Great  Britain,  and  then  with  that  of  France,  and  which  con- 
tinued to  occupy  him  during  the  whole  time  he  remained  in 
office.  Distinguished  for  ability  as  the  diplomatic  correspon- 
dence of  this  country  generally  has  been,  there  is  no  part  of  it 
that  has  been  so  extolled,  both  for  style  and  argument,  or  has 
given  such  satisfaction  to  all  parties,  as  that  which  was  carried 
on  by  Mr.  Jefferson  with  Mr.  Hammond  and  Mr.  Genet. 

Great  Britain  had  at  length  decided  on  sending  a  minister 
to  the  United  States,  and  Mr.  Hammond,  the  gentleman  who 
filled  this  station,  had  arrived  in  August,  1791.  One  of  his  first 
official  acts  was  to  complain  of  a  recent  decision  by  the  supreme 
court  of  judicature  of  Massachusetts,  in  the  case  of  Thomas 
Pagan,  a  British  subject,  who  had  been  the  agent  for  a  priva- 
teer. 

This  privateer  had,  at  the  close  of  the  war,  captured  an 
American  vessel,  which  had  been  adjudged  a  lawful  prize  in 
one  of  the  courts  of  vice  admiralty.  After  the  peace,  Pagan 
had  been  sued  in  Massachusetts  for  the  value  of'  this  vessel. 
While  the  question  of  prize  or  no  prize  was  depending  before  the 
lords  of  appeals  in  England,  a  judgment  had  been  obtained  here, 
and,  on  an  execution  against  Pagan,  he  was  put  in  prison,  where 
he  was  then  confined.  In  answer  to  this  application,  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson informed  Mr.  Hammond  that  the  supreme  court  of  the 
United  States  was  open  to  an  application  for  a  writ  of  error  in 
behalf  of  Mr.  Pagan,  to  revise  the  judgment  of  the  court  of 
Massachusetts,  and  that  on  such  application  the  court  would 
do  what  was  right.  On  further  inquiry  it  appeared  that  Pagan 
had  not  taken  the  legal  steps  to  obtain  a  writ  of  error,  and  it 

VOL.  I.— 47 


370  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

was  the  opinion  of  the  attorney-general  that  the  merits  of  the 
case  were  against  him,  if  he  had.  Accordingly,  in  April  follow- 
ing, Mr.  Jefferson  stated  these  facts  to  Mr.  Hammond,  sent  him 
a  copy  of  the  attorney-general's  opinion,  and  expressed  the  hope 
that  he  was  satisfied  with  the  course  of  the  government,  as 
evincing  "the  most  scrupulous  disposition  to  patronise  and  effec- 
tuate Pagan's  right,  had  right  been  on  his  side." 

In  Mr.  Jefferson's  answer  to  Mr.  Hammond  in  the  preceding 
case,  the  old  subject  of  a  commercial  treaty  was  again  pressed 
on  his  notice;  and  Mr.  Hammond  having  immediately  declared 
that  he  was  fully  authorized  to  enter  into  a  negotiation,  Mr. 
Jefferson  replied,  on  the  13th  December,  that  he  was  "ready 
to  receive  a  communication  of  Mr.  Hammond's  full  powers,  and 
proceed  immediately  to  their  object." 

Our  government  had  received  information  that  a  Mr.  Bowles 
had  recently  arrived  from  England  in  the  country  of  the  Creek 
Indians,  whom  he  had  endeavoured  to  excite  to  war  against  the 
United  States,  and  that  he  pretended  to  be  employed  by  the 
British  government.  On  the  12th  December,  1791,  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son mentioned  this  affair  to  Mr.  Hammond,  and  at  the  same 
time  informed  him  that  Bowles's  pretensions  were  not  credited 
by  the  American  government.  On  the  29th  March,  1792,  Mr. 
Hammond  informed  Mr.  Jefferson  that  Bowles  was  an  unau- 
thorized impostor.  The  latter  remarked  in  his  reply,  that  "the 
promptitude  of  the  disavowal  of  what  their  candour  had  for- 
bidden them  to  credit,  was  a  new  proof  of  their  friendly  dispo- 
sitions, and  a  fresh  incitement  to  both  parties  to  cherish  corre- 
sponding sentiments." 

But  it  was  not  long  before  the  discussions  between  these 
ministers  were  directed  to  matters  of  far  greater  importance, 
and  which,  for  the  sake  of  presenting  the  reader  with  a  con- 
nected view  of  it,  will  now  be  continued  into  the  following  year. 

It  happened  in  this  diplomatic  discussion,  as  in  most  others, 
that  each  party  urged  causes  of  complaint  against  the  other, 
and  was  of  course  called  upon  to  perform  the  office  of  defence 
as  well  as  of  crimination. 

The  grounds  of  complaint  on  the  part  of  the  United  States 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  371 

were  the  following:  that  fortifications  within  our  territory  had 
not  been  given  up,  in  conformity  with  the  general  stipulation 
in  the  7th  article  of  the  treaty  of  peace — these  posts  were 
partly  on  the  great  lakes,  and  partly  on  Champlain  and  the  St. 
Lawrence,  and  in  the  latter  end  of  1791  were  eight  in  number; 
that  British  officers  had  exercised  a  jurisdiction  over  the  coun- 
try and  its  inhabitants  in  the  neighbourhood  of  these  forts;  that 
they  had  excluded  American  citizens  from  the  navigation  of 
the  rivers  and  lakes  which  constitute  the  stipulated  boundary 
between  the  two  countries,  by  reason  of  which  the  United 
States  lost  not  only  the  benefit  of  the  fur  trade  with  the  Indians, 
but  the  means  of  preserving  peace  with  some  of  the  tribes. 

They  complained  also  that  many  negroes,  the  property  of 
citizens  of  the  United  States,  had  been  carried  off,  in  contra- 
vention of  the  same  article.  That  the  river  St.  Croix,  the  sti- 
pulated boundary  between  the  United  States  and  Canada,  is 
not  that  which  the  British  have  contended  for,  there  being  two 
rivers  of  that  name. 

On  the  part  of  Great  Britain  it  was  insisted,  that  the  treaty 
stipulations  contained  in  the  4th,  5th,  and  6th  articles  of  the 
same  treaty  had  not  been  complied  with  by  the  United  States. 

These  articles  stipulated  that  creditors  in  either  nation  should 
meet  with  no  legal  impediments  to  the  recovery  of  their  debts; 
that  congress  should  recommend  to  the  legislatures  of  the  several 
states,  to  make  restitution  of  all  property  of  British  subjects 
which  had  been  confiscated  during  the  war;  that  there  should 
be  no  future  confiscations,  and  no  persecutions  against  persons 
for  having  borne  arms  during  the  late  war;  none  of  which  sti- 
pulations, it  was  asserted,  had  been  fully  complied  with. 

In  December,  1791,  Mr.  Jefferson  stated  to  Mr.  Hammond 
the  grounds  of  complaint  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  spe- 
cifying the  forts  which  were  retained,  and  the  negroes  that  had 
been  carrried  off  by  the  British  forces,  contrary  to  the  7th  ar- 
ticle of  the  treaty  of  peace. 

In  March  following,  Mr.  Hammond,  who  had  previously  jus- 
tified this  non-execution  of  the  treaty  on  the  part  of  Great  Bri- 
tain by  the  failure  of  the  United  States,  specifies  the  following 


372  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSOX. 

cases  of  infractions  of  the  4th,  5th,  and  6th  articles  of  the 
treaty: 

That  the  states  had  not  repealed  the  laws  against  those  who 
had  an  interest  in  confiscated  lands,  which  had  been  passed 
before  the  pacification. 

That  they  had  enacted  laws,  since  that  time,  in  contravention 
of  the  treaty. 

That  British  creditors  had  been  obstructed  in  the  recovery 
of  their  debts,  by  regulations  which  enabled  creditors  to  tender 
property  in  discharge  of  those  debts;  by  paper  money,  which  had 
been  made  a  legal  tender,  at  its  nominal  value;  and  by  the  de- 
cision in  some  of  the  states,  that  subjects  of  Great  Britain,  being 
aliens,  could  not  hold  real  estate:  that  in  some  of  the  state  courts 
decisions  had  taken  place  which  reduced  the  amount  of  British 
debts,  in  violation  of  the  terms  of  the  original  contracts,  and 
some  had  positively  refused  to  take  cognisance  of  suits  instituted 
for  the  recovery  of  those  debts.  Facts  were  cited  by  the  minis- 
ter in  proof  of  all  these  charges. 

The  laws  enacted  since  the  treaty  in  violation  of  it,  were 
such  as  related  to  the  estates  of  the  loyalists,  or  such  as  ob- 
structed the  recovery  of  debts  due  to  British  subjects;  of  which 
he  mentions  various  examples  by  the  laws  of  the  several  states. 

On  the  29th  of  May,  1792,  Mr.  Jefferson  gave  a  full  and  ela- 
borate answer  to  all  the  infractions  of  the  treaty  alleged  by 
Mr.  Hammond,  which  he  considers  under  the  three  heads  of — 1. 
Exile  and  confiscation.  2.  Debts.  3.  Interest  on  those  debts. 

Mr.  Jefferson  shows  that  Mr.  Hammond  had  given  a  force  to 
the  word  "recommend"  used  in  the  treaty  which  did  not  belong 
to  it,  when  he  considers  that  it  implies  a  power  of  enforcing  it, 
and  in  proof  of  this  he  refers  to  the  understanding  of  the  nego- 
tiators; to  the  sense  of  the  British  ministry;  and  of  members  of 
both  houses  of  parliament:  that  according  to  this  obvious  and 
admitted  sense,  congress  had  fairly  complied  with  the  stipula- 
lation;  and  that  all  of  the  states,  except  one,  had  complied  with 
the  recommendation.  He  examined  in  detail  the  legislative 
acts  of  the  several  states,  and  showed  that  wherever  they  con- 
cerned confiscations,  they  were  all  passed  before  the  pacification. 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSOX.  373 

In  answer  to  the  complaint  that  the  British  government  had 
been  compelled  to  pay  four  millions  sterling  to  the  loyalists,  by 
way  of  indemnity,  Mr.  Jefferson  stated  that  no  indemnification 
had  been  expected  from  us  by  Mr.  Oswald:  but  that  on  the 
contrary,  ue  had  a  claim  of  indemnification  to  a  much  larger 
amount.  He  intimates  that  the  sum  paid  was,  as  it  had  ap- 
peared in  America,  not  merely  for  losses,  hut  for  services,  and 
on  other  considerations:  that  we  have  borne  our  own  losses, 
and  that  Great  Britain  was  the  gainer  by  choosing  the  alterna- 
tiye  of  indemnifying  her  own  sufferers,  rather  than  ours. 

On  the  subject  of  debts,  he  notices  the  negroes  who  were 
carried  away,  and  urged  that  on  the  fulfilment  of  this  article 
depended  the  means  of  paying  the  debts:  that  the  forts  which 
were  to  have  been  delivered  up  with  all  convenient  speed,  might 
easily  have  been  surrendered  by  the  end  of  May,  1783;  yet  no 
order  had  ever  been  given  in  England  for  their  evacuation. 
The  effect  of  this  delay  was,  first,  to  cut  us  off  from  the  fur 
trade;  and  secondly,  it  excluded  us  from  all  friendly  connexion 
with  the  north-western  Indians,  by  reason  whereof  we  were 
involved  in  constant  and  expensive  wars,  and  which  nothing  but 
our  possession  of  the  forts  would  terminate.  The  treaty  was 
therefore  violated  in  England  before  it  was  known  in  America, 
and  that,  too,  in  stipulations  so  essential,  that  without  them  it 
would  never  have  been  concluded.  The  United  States,  then, 
had  their  election  to  consider  the  treaty  dissolved,  or  to  com- 
pensate itself  by  withholding  execution  of  equivalent  articles. 

He  reviews  the  proceedings  in  some  of  the  states  which  threw 
impediments  in  the  way  of  recovering  British  debts,  and  shows 
that  they  were  justified  by  the  previous  infractions  of  Great 
Britain;  and  that  some  of  them  expressly  assigned  these  infrac- 
tions as  the  ground  of  their  procedures:  he  alleges  that  they 
admit  of  a  yet  further  defence,  which  he  makes  for  the  three 
species  of  injury  to  creditors  complained  of  under  this  head. 
These  were,  1.  Delay  of  judgment.  2.  Liberating  the  body  of 
the  debtor  on  the  delivery  of  property.  3.  Admitting  execu- 
tions to  be  discharged  in  paper  money;  to  all  of  which  expe- 


374  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

dients  they  were  justified  by  the  peculiar  difficulties  of  their 
situation. 

He  insists  that  although  the  treaty  was  first  broken  by  Great 
Britain,  and  she  was  bound  to  comply  with  her  engagements 
before  she  exacted  compliance  of  the  United  States,  yet  on  the 
British  minister's  declaring  to  Mr.  Adams  that  "whenever 
America  shall  manifest  a  real  intention  to  fulfil  her  part  of  the 
treaty,  Great  Britain  would  co-operate  for  carrying  every 
article  into  real  and  complete  effect,"  Congress  immediately 
wrote,  in  May,  1786,  to  the  governors  of  the  states,  to  know 
how  far  they  had  complied  with  the  proclamation  of  January, 
1784,  and  the  recommendation  accompanying  it;  and  they  ad- 
dressed a  circular  to  the  several  states,  earnestly  urging  them 
by  the  strongest  considerations  of  duty  and  policy  to  an  exact 
compliance  with  the  treaty:  that  nine  of  the  states  imme- 
diately complied  with  the  request:  of  the  rest,  New  Jersey, 
Pennsylvania,  and  Georgia  had  no  law  existing  conflicting  with 
the  treaty;  and  though  South  Carolina  had  a  law  which  sub- 
jected all  persons  to  certain  conditions  of  recovery  and  payment, 
it  made  no  distinction  between  aliens  and  citizens. 

He  vindicates  the  judicatures  of  the  states  from  the  sweeping 
charge  made  against  them  by  Mr.  Hammond,  and  rests  his  vin- 
dication on  certificates  from  eminent  citizens,  (senators  and  re- 
presentatives of  those  states.)  He  alleges  that  the  courts  are 
open  and  accessible  to  British  creditors  in  all  the  slates,  who 
are  in  the  constant  practice  of  sueing  for,  and  recovering  those 
debts. 

In  reply  to  the  contrast  which  Mr.  Hammond  draws  between 
the  courts  of  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  several  cases 
are  cited  to  show  that  our  citizens  have  cause  of  complaint  on 
this  head.  "These  cases,"  he  adds,  "appear  strong.  If  your 
judges  have  done  wrong  in  them,  we  expect  redress:  if  right, 
we  expect  explanations." 

The  subject  of  interest  he  discusses  with  the  accuracy  and 
laborious  research  of  a  practised  jurist. 

In  the  first  place,  he  maintains  that  the  administration  of 
justice  is  a  branch  of  the  sovereignty  over  a  country,  and  no 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  375 

foreign  power  can  pretend  to  share  in  its  jurisdiction.  The 
errors  of  the  highest  courts  must  therefore  be  submitted  to,  as 
to  one  of  the  inconveniences  flowing  from  the  imperfection  of 
our  faculties,  unless  the  error  be  so  clear  and  palpable  as  to 
indicate  intentional  wrong. 

He  shows  that  the  refusal  to  pay  interest  rests  upon  reasons 
which  not  only  indicate  the  integrity  of  the  judges,  but  even 
their  legal  science,  if  that  were  necessary.  The  nature  of  in- 
terest is  then  thoroughly  examined,  the  principles  upon  which 
it  has  been  allowed  or  refused,  and  the  diversity  of  those  prin- 
ciples. He  avers  that  the  states  have  been  uniform  in  the 
allowance  of  interest  before  and  since  the  war,  but  not  for  that 
claimed  during  the  war,  except  in  Massachusetts  and  in  Penn- 
sylvania, where  the  creditor  or  his  agent  was  in  the  country: 
And  that  in  1790,  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  United  States  deter- 
mined that  interest  should  be  allowed  even  during  the  war. 

On  the  2nd  of  June  Mr.  Hammond  acknowledged  the  receipt 
of  the  preceding  letter,  suggested  that  from  the  matter  being 
so  various  and  extensive,  much  time  must  elapse  before  he  could 
reply  to  it.  In  the  mean  while  he  remarks,  that  some  of  the 
principles  advanced  do  not  appear  to  him  relevant  to  the  sub- 
ject under  discussion,  and  that  the  difference  between  them,  as 
to  positive  facts,  is  so  great,  that  he  should  feel  it  a  duty  to  his 
character  to  corroborate  them  by  additional  testimony,  and  thus 
remove  the  imputation  of  either  negligence  or  intentional  mis- 
representation. 

The  correspondence  on  this  subject  then  remained  suspended 
until  June  19,  1793,  when  Mr.  Jefferson  wrote  to  Mr.  Hammond 
to  inquire  when  he  might  expect  an  answer  from  him,  remark- 
ing that  "the  interest  the  United  States  had  in  the  western 
posts,  the  blood  and  treasure  which  their  detention  costs  us 
daily,  cannot  but  produce  a  correspondent  anxiety"  on.  the  part 
of  the  United  States. 

On  the  foil-owing  day,  Mr.  Hammond  replied,  that  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son's letter  had  been  forwarded  to  his  government,  soon  after 
he  received  it,  and  he  had  since  been  informed  that  it  would  be 
immediately  taken  into  consideration;  but  he  presumed,  the 


376  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

important  events  which  had  since  occurred  in  Europe,  had  so 
engrossed  the  attention  of  his  majesty's  ministers,  as  to  have 
diverted  them  from  objects  deemed  less  urgent.  He  promises 
to  give  the  earliest  notice  of  his  majesty's  pleasure,  especially, 
as  he  is  now  prepared  with  evidence  to  substantiate  most  of  the 
principal  facts  formerly  stated  by  him. 

He  adverts  to  the  expression  in  Mr.  Jefferson's  letter,  con- 
cerning "the  blood  and  treasure,"  which  the  detention  of  the 
posts  cost  the  United  States,  remarking,  that  he  could  not  easily 
conjecture  the  motives  in  which  this  declaration  had  originated; 
adds,  that  he  would  not  imagine  the  expression  meant  to  in- 
sinuate, that  the  Governor  of  Canada  had  departed  from  the 
strict  neutrality  his  government  had  professed  between  the 
United  States  and  the  Indians;  and  concludes,  that  he  feels  as 
much  anxiety  to  see  the  treaty  of  peace  carried  into  full  execu- 
tion, as  the  United  States  can  be,  as  he  is  constanly  receiving 
assurances  from  British  creditors,  that  they  are  unable  to  pro- 
cure legal  redress  in  any  of  the  courts,  in  one  or  two  of  the 
southern  states. 

Mr.  Jefferson,  on  the  19th  of  November,  renewed  his  inquiry 
whether  the  government  of  the  United  States  could  then  receive 
an  answer  to  his  letter  of  the  29th  of  May,  1792,  on  the  unexe- 
cuted articles  of  the  treaty,  to  which  inquiry  Mr.  Hammond 
replied,  that  the  causes  of  delay  already  mentioned  by  him,  still 
continued;  and  this  closed  the  correspondence  concerning  the 
treaty  of  peace. 

The  post-office  being  now  established  and  regulated  by  law, 
Mr.  Jefferson,  considering  it  as  an  appendage  to  the  Department 
of  State,  wrote,  on  the  28th  of  March,  with  the  president's  con- 
sent, to  Mr.  Pickering,  the  postmaster-general,  to  know  if  the 
post,  which  was  then  carried  at  the  rate  of  50  miles  a  day, 
could  not  be  expedited  to  100  miles.* 

*  This  rate,  which  was  then  the  ultimatum  aimed  at,  and  the  practi- 
cability of  which  was  then  doubted,  would  now  be  regarded  as  insuffer- 
ably slow  on  the  great  post  roads.  According  to  the  proposed  rate,  the 
mail  would  require  about  six  days  to  travel  from  Boston  to  Richmond, 
but  it  now  travels  the  same  distance  in  less  than  three  days.  On  some 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  377 

In  consequence  of  the  suggestion  of  the  preceding  year  from 
Governor  Pinckney  of  South  Carolina,  the  plan  of  a  convention 
with  Spain  was  prepared  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  by  which  each  na- 
tion was  to  surrender  up  to  the  other  its  fugitives  from  justice, 
and  the  same  was  transmitted  to  Messrs.  Carmichael  and  Short, 
at  that  time  joint  commissioners  to  Spain. 

According  to  this  convention,  persons  charged  with  murder 
not  amounting  to  treason  in  one  country,  and  fleeing  to  the 
other,  might,  by  order  of  a  court,  be  given  up.  Debtors  fleeing 
in  the  same  way  might  be  sued  in  the  country  in  which  they 
were  found,  and  the  same  advantage  was  given  to  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  creditor  against  the  representatives  of  the 
debtor:  but  in  all  cases  of  debt,  the  person  of  the  debtor  was 
not  to  be  liable  to  imprisonment. 

To  this  document  he  subjoins  some  general  considerations, 
which  recommended  that  such  conventions  should  confine  them- 
selves to  the  limited  objects  provided  for  in  the  above  projet, 
and  which  indicate  an  equal  attention  to  the  duties  of  prudence 
and  humanity. 

On  the  31st  of  March,  the  question  of  the  right  of  represen- 
tatives to  call  directly  on  the  heads  of  departments  for  informa- 
tion, instead  of  asking  it  through  the  president,  was  discussed  in 
the  cabinet,  in  consequence  of  an  application  from  a  committee 
of  the  house  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  for  papers  relative  to  the 
late  unfortunate  expedition  under  General  St.  Clair.  It  was 
then  unanimously  agreed  in  the  cabinet.  1.  That  the  House 
was  an  inquest,  and  might  institute  inquiries.  2.  That  it  might 
call  for  papers  generally.  3.  That  the  executive  ought  to  com- 
municate such  papers  as  the  public  good  would  permit,  and 
only  such.  4.  That  neither  a  committee  nor  the  house  had  a 
right  to  call  on  the  head  of  a  department,  who  and  whose 
papers  were  under  the  president  alone;  but  that  the  applica- 
tion should  be  made  through  the  president. 

of  the  post  routes  the  mail  is  now  transported  by  steam  more  than  250 
miles  in  twenty-four  hours,  which  is  at  five  times  its  rate  of  transpor- 
tation at  that  time. 

It  is  by  such  comparisons  as  these,  that  we  can  be  made  sensible  of  the 
prodigious  improvement  which  our  country  has  experienced,  from  the 
united  effect  of  its  own  energies  and  the  spirit  of  the  age. 
VOL.  I.— 48 


378  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFEHSON. 

To  this  last  point  Hamilton  dissented,  so  far  as  concerned  his 
own  department,  which  was  made  especially  subject  to  Con- 
gress in  some  respects,  but  he  thought  that  he  was  not  obliged 
to  produce  all  the  papers  called  for.  The  impression  made 
upon  Mr.  Jefferson's  mind,  was,  that  "he  endeavoured  to  place 
himself  subject  to  the  house,  when  the  executive  should  pro- 
pose what  he  did  not  like,  and  subject  to  the  executive,  when 
the  house  should  propose  anything  disagreeable." 

The  difficulty,  on  the  present  occasion,  was  removed  by  Mr. 
Jefferson's  speaking  separately  with  the  members  of  the  com- 
mittee, and  persuading  them  to  adopt  the  course  of  instructing 
their  chairman  to  move  the  house  to  address  the  president; 
which  request  was  complied  with,  as  there  were  no  papers 
which  they  desired  to  withhold. 

The  government  had  now  determined  to  redeem  our  captive 
citizens  at  Algiers,  and  to  make  peace  with  that  power,  by  pay- 
ing an  annual  tribute.  The  Senate  approved  of  this  course, 
but  they  wished  the  president  to  make  the  treaty,  and  either 
to  take  the  money  it  would  require  from  the  treasury,  or  open 
a  loan  for  it.  They  were  unwilling  to  consult  the  representa- 
tives on  the  subject,  lest  it  should  establish  an  inconvenient  pre- 
cedent, and  enable  the  house  to  share  in  the  treaty  making 
power,  which  the  constitution  had  confided  to  the  president  and 
senate.  They  feared,  moreover,  that  if  a  particular  sum  were 
voted  by  the  house,  it  would  not  be  a  secret.  The  president 
did  not  come  into  their  views.  But  he  agreed  to  enter  into  a 
provisional  treaty,  not  to  be  binding  until  ratified  here.  Mr. 
Jefferson,  with  his  habitual  vigilance  in  behalf  of  the  popular 
branch,  having  suggested  that  the  president  should  withhold  his 
seal  from  the  treaty,  after  the  Senate  had  advised  its  ratifica- 
tion, until  the  two  houses  voted  the  money,  General  Washing- 
ton inquired  whether  a  treaty  stipulating  the  payment  of 
money,  and  ratified  by  him,  with  the  advice  of  the  Senate, 
would  not  be  obligatory  on  the  representatives.  Mr.  Jefferson 
answered  that  it  would,  and  that  it  would  be  the  duty  of  the 
representatives  to  provide  the  money,  but  they  might  decline 
to  do  what  was  their  duty,  and  thus  he  might  be  involved  in 
embarrassment  with  a  foreign  government.  It  was  possible,  too, 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  379 

he  added,  to  conceive  a  treaty,  which  they  were  not  bound  to 
provide  for. 

The  president  then  remarked,  that  "he  did  not  like  throwing 
too  much  into  democratic  hands,  for  that  if  they  did  not  do  what 
the  constitution  called  on  them  to  do,  the  government  would  be 
at  an  end,  and  must  then  assume  another  form.  He  stopped  here; 
and  Mr.  Jefferson  remarks: — "I  kept  silence,  to  see  whether  he 
would  say  any  thing  more  in  the  same  line,  or  add  any  qualify- 
ing expression  to  soften  what  he  had  said;  but  he  did  neither." 
Whatever  might  be  the  species  of  other  form  to  which  General 
Washington  here  alluded,  it  appears  from  the  same  testimony 
— his  own  declaration  at  the  time — that  he  did  not  wish  it,  as 
he  was  unwilling,  by  increasing  the  power  of  the  democratic 
branch,  to  increase  the  danger  to  which  he  believed  the  con- 
stitution was  most  exposed. 

The  course  recommended  on  this  occasion  seems  to  be  dic- 
tated by  prudence,  and,  as  he  remarks,  there  appeared  to  be 
as  much  reason  for  consulting  the  representatives  about  a 
treaty,  when  their  aid  was  necessary  to  carry  it  into  operation, 
as  of  consulting  the  senate,  because  their  concurrence  was 
necessary  to  its  ratification;  and  the  executive  were  then  re- 
gularly in  the  practice  of  doing  this. 

The  celebrated  Paul  Jones  was  appointed  a  commissioner 
for  treating  with  the  Dey  of  Algiers,  on  the  subject  of  peace  and 
the  ransoming  of  American  captives;  and  he  was  informed  of 
the  appointment  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  on  the  1st  of  June.  The 
captives  were  thirteen  in  number,  and  Jones  was  limited  to  the 
sum  of  827,000  for  their  redemption,  including  all  incidental 
charges.  Among  these  captives  was  the  well-known  Commo- 
dore O'Bryan,  who  was  afterwards  employed  by  the  govern- 
ment in  its  negotiations  with  Algiers.  When  the  ransom  of 
these  captives  was  first  talked  of,  it  was  supposed  it  could  be 
effected  for  about  $200  each;  but  it  had  now  increased  to  ten 
times  that  amount.  The  government  had  been  anxious  to  esta- 
blish the  rate  of  ransom  as  low  as  possible,  lest  these  piratical 
states  should  be  tempted  to  go  in  quest  of  American  captives  in 
preference  to  those  of  other  countries;  and  thus  its  regard  to  the 
interests  of  our  seamen,  generally,  compelled  it  to  take  a  course, 


380  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

which  subjected  it  to  the  imputation  of  cold  indifference  to  that 
portion  of  them  who  were  already  in  captivity.  The  annual 
tribute  for  which  the  consul  was  authorized  to  stipulate,  as  the 
price  of  peace,  was  limited  to  825,000. 

This  letter,  however,  never  reached  its  address.  It  was  sent 
by  Mr.  Pinckney,  recently  appointed  minister  to  Great  Britain, 
and  he  did  not  arrive  in  England  until  the  last  of  July,  some 
days  after  Jones'  death.*  He  died  at  Paris  on  the  18th  of  July, 
1792,  in  abject  poverty,  and  Mr.  Gouverneur  Morris,  the  Ame- 
rican minister,  whom  he  sent  for  in  his  last  moments,  made  his 
will.  A  pompous  funeral  having  been  proposed  to  Mr.  Morris 
by  some  Americans  at  Paris,  and  he  having  resisted  the  appli- 
cation, on  account  of  the  expense,  which  he  considered  he  had 
no  right  to  impose  on  his  government,  he  was  censured  at  home 
for  this  seeming  indifference  to  the  memory  of  one  who  had 
rendered  eminent  public  service  to  the  United  States,  f 

As  the  mint  which  had  been  established  at  the  late  session  of 
Congress,  was  considered  at  that  day  to  be  within  the  province 
of  the  state  department,  Mr.  Jefferson  took  steps  to  provide  the 
necessary  artists  and  workmen  from  Europe,  through  Mr.  Pinck- 
ney. 

*Mr.  Jefferson  had  taken  the  precaution  to  request  Mr.  Pinckney  to 
confide  the  papers  and  commission  for  "Admiral  Jones"  to  Mr.  Thomas 
Barclay,  then  consul  at  Morocco,  in  case  Jones  should  be  prevented  from 
acting  by  death  or  other  cause;  and  the  business  assigned  to  him,  was 
finally  transacted  by  Barclay. 

|Mr.  Morris  thus  notices  the  censure,  in  a  letter  to  a  friend  in  Ameri- 
ca:—"It  is  somewhat  singular  that  he  who  detested  the  French  Revo- 
lution and  all  those  concerned  in  it,  should  have  been  followed  to  the 
grave  by  a  deputation  from  the  National  Assembly;  and  that  I  should 
read  in  your  Gazettes  something  like  a  very  severe  reflection  on  me  for 
not  paying  him  due  respect;  I,  who,  during  his  life,  rendered  him  all  pos- 
sible service,  and  possessed  his  confidence  to  the  last,  so  that  he  wished 
to  name  me  with  you  for  executor."— Life  of  G.  Morris,  I.  377. 

If,  however,  the  fact  be  truly  stated  by  Dodley's  Annual  Register,  in 
its  obituary  notice  of  Paul  Jones,  that  "Colonel  Blackden  was  obliged  to 
raise  a  small  sum,  by  way  of  subscription,  in  order  to  bury  him,"  the 
censure  would  not  seem  to  be  altogether  unmerited.  He  who  had  done 
more  than  any  other  individual  to  sustain  the  honour  of  the  American 
flag  at  sea,  and  whose  services  had  been  deemed,  by  an  unanimous  vote 
of  Congress,  (Oct.  16, 1787,)  "worthy  of  a  gold  medal,"  though  he  were 
Buffered  to  live  in  penury,  might  at  least  have  been  buried  at  the  public 
expense. 


381 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

Mr.  Jefferson  addresses  a  long  letter  to  the  President.  His  views  of  the 
state  of  parties.  His  various  arguments  why  the  President  should  serve 
a  second  term.  Conversation  between  them  on  the  subject  of  this  let- 
ter. Their  respective  opinions  on  the  Assumption,  Bank,  and  Excise. 
Further  conversation— the  supposed  predilections  for  Monarchy— 
influence  of  the  Treasury  Department.  Commissioners  from  Spain. 
Discussion  in  the  Cabinet.  Disagreement  as  to  Foreign  Connexions. 
Relations  with  France.  Party  Dissentions.  References  to  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury — his  plan  of  reducing  the  Public  Debt — pro- 
poses to  pay  the  debt  to  the  Bank  in  advance.  Further  Assumption  of 
State  Debts.  Mr.  Giles's  Resolutions  against  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury.  Proceedings  thereon.  Views  of  the  two  Parties.  Con- 
versation with  the  President  on  his  Levees.  Right  of  the  United 
States  to  cede  Territory,  discussed  in  the  Cabinet. 

1793—1793. 

CONGRESS  had  adjourned  on  the  8th  of  May,  and  the  presi- 
dent having  soon  after  left  Philadelphia  for  Mount  Vernon, 
Mr.  Jefferson  addressed  to  him  a  long  letter,  in  which  his  consent 
to  a  re-election  was  strongly  urged.  As  this  letter,  never  before 
published,  is  a  refutation  of  the  charge  so  often  reiterated  by 
his  enemies,  of  comprehending  General  Washington  in  his  sus- 
picions and  criminations  of  the  federalists,  is  highly  honourable 
both  to  his  frankness  and  patriotism,  and  breathes  an  eloquent 
earnestness,  which  only  strong  feeling  could  have  inspired,  it  is 
here  given  entire. 

Philadelphia,  May  23,  1792. 
Dear  Sir, 

"I  have  determined  to  make  the  subject  of  a  letter  what  has 


382  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

for  some  time  past  been  a  subject  of  inquietude  to  my  mind, 
without  having  found  a  good  occasion  of  disburdening  itself  to 
you  in  conversation,  during  the  busy  scenes  which  occupied  you 
here.  Perhaps,  too,  you  may  be  able,  in  your  present  situa- 
tion, or  on  the  road,  to  give  it  more  time  and  reflection  than 
you  could  do  here  at  any  moment. 

"When  you  first  mentioned  to  me  your  purpose  of  retiring 
from  the  government,  though  I  felt  all  the  magnitude  of  the 
event,  I  was,  in  a  considerable  degree,  silent.  I  knew,  that  to 
such  a  mind  as  yours,  persuasion  was  idle  and  impertinent; 
that,  before  forming  your  decision,  you  had  weighed  all  the 
reasons  for  and  against  the  measure;  had  made  up  your  mind 
on  a  full  view  of  them,  and  that  there  could  be  little  hope  of 
changing  the  result.  Pursuing  my  reflections,  too,  I  knew  we 
were  some  day  to  try  to  walk  alone,  and  if  the  essay  should  be 
made  while  you  should  be  alive  and  looking  on,  we  should  de- 
rive confidence  from  that  circumstance,  and  resource  if  it  failed. 
The  public  mind,  too,  was  then  calm  and  content,  and,  there- 
fore, in  a  favourable  state  for  making  the  experiment.  Had  no 
change  of  circumstances  supervened,  I  should  not,  with  any 
hope  of  success,  have  now  ventured  to  propose  to  you  a  change 
of  purpose.  But  the  public  mind  is  no  longer  so  confident  and 
serene;  and  that  from  causes  in  which  you  are  no  ways  per- 
sonally mixed.  Though  these  causes  have  been  hackneyed  in 
the  public  papers  in  detail,  it  may  not  be  amiss,  in  order  to  elu- 
cidate the  effect  they  are  capable  of  producing,  to  take  a  view 
of  them  in  the  mass;  giving  to  each  the  form,  real  or  imaginary, 
under  which  they  have  presented  it. 

"It  has  been  urged  then,  that  a  public  debt,  greater  than 
we  can  possibly  pay  before  other  causes  of  adding  new  debt  to 
it  will  occur,  has  been  artificially  created,  by  adding  together 
the  whole  amount  of  the  debtor  and  creditor  sides  of  the  ac- 
counts, instead  of  taking  only  their  balances,  which  could  have 
been  paid  off  in  a  short  time.  That  this  accumulation  of  debt 
has  taken  for  ever  out  of  our  power  those  easy  sources  of  reve- 
nue, which,  applied  to  the  ordinary  necessities  and  exigencies 
of  government,  would  have  answered  them  habitually,  and 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  383 

covered  us  from  habitual  murmurings  against  taxes  and  tax- 
gatherers,  reserving  extraordinary  calls  for  those  extraordinary 
occasions  which  would  animate  the  people  to  meet  them:  that 
though  the  calls  for  money  have  been  no  greater  than  we  must 
generally  expect  for  the  same,  or  equivalent  exigencies,  yet  we 
are  already  obliged  to  strain  the  impost  till  it  produces  clamour, 
and  will  produce  evasion  and  war  on  our  cities  to  collect  it;  and 
even  to  resort  to  an  excise  law,  of  odious  character  with  the 
people,  partial  in  its  operation,  unproductive,  unless  enforced 
by  arbitrary  and  vexatious  means,  and  committing  the  authority 
of  the  government  in  parts  where  resistance  is  most  probable, 
and  coercion  least  practicable.  They  cite  propositions  in  Con- 
gress, and  suspect  other  projects  on  foot,  still  to  increase  the 
mass  of  debt.  They  say  that  by  borrowing,  at  two-thirds  of  the 
interest,  we  might  have  paid  off  the  principal  in  two-thirds  of 
the  time;  but  that  from  this  we  are  precluded  by  its  being  made 
irredeemable  but  in  small  portions  and  long  terms;  that  this  ir- 
redeemable quality  was  given  it  for  the  avowed  purpose  of  in- 
viting its  transfer  to  foreign  countries.  They  predict  that  this 
transfer  of  the  principal,  when  completed,  will  occasion  an  ex- 
portation of  three  millions  of  dollars  annually  for  the  interest — 
a  drain  of  coin,  of  which,  as  there  has  been  no  example,  no 
calculation  can  be  made  of  its  consequences;  that  the  banish- 
ment of  our  coin  will  be  completed  by  the  creation  of  ten  mil- 
lions of  paper  money,  in  the  form  of  bank  bills,  now  issuing  into 
circulation.  They  think  the  ten  or  twelve  per  cent,  annual 
profit,  paid  to  the  lenders  of  this  paper  medium,  taken  out  of 
the  pockets  of  the  people,  who  would  have  had,  without  interest, 
the  coin  it  is  banishing;  that  all  the  capital  employed  in  paper 
speculation,  is  barren  and  useless;  producing,  like  that  on  a 
gaming  table,  no  accession  to  itself;  and  is  withdrawn  from  com- 
merce and  agriculture,  where  it  would  have  produced  addition 
to  the  common  mass;  that  it  nourishes  in  our  citizens  habits  of 
vice  and  idleness,  instead  of  industry  and  morality;  that  it  has 
furnished  effectual  means  of  corrupting  such  portion  of  the 
legislature  as  turns  the  balance  between  the  honest  voters, 
which  ever  way  it  is  directed;  that  the  corrupt  squadron,  de- 


384  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

ciding  the  voice  of  the  legislature,  have  manifested  their  dispo- 
sitions to  get  rid  of  the  limitations  imposed  by  the  constitution 
on  the  general  legislature;  limitations,  on  the  faith  of  which,  the 
states  acceded  to  the  instrument;  that  the  ultimate  object  of 
all  this  is  to  prepare  the  way  for  a  change  from  the  present  re- 
publican form  of  government  to  that  of  a  monarchy,  of  which 
the  English  constitution  is  to  be  the  model:  that  this  was  con- 
templated in  the  convention,  is  no  secret,  because  its  partisans 
made  none  of  it.  To  effect  it  then  was  impracticable,  but  they 
are  still  eager  after  their  object,  and  are  predisposing  every 
thing  for  its  ultimate  attainment.  So  many  of  them  have  got 
into  the  legislature,  that,  aided  by  the  corrupt  squadron  of 
paper-dealers,  who  are  at  their  devotion,  they  make  a  majority 
in  both  houses.  The  republican  party,  who  wish  to  preserve 
the  government  in  its  present  form,  are  fewer  in  number — they 
are  fewer  even  when  joined  by  the  two  or  three,  or  half  dozen 
anti-federalists,  who,  though  they  dare  not  avow  it,  are  still  op- 
posed to  any  general  government,  but  being  less  so  to  a  repub- 
lican than  to  a  monarchical  one,  they  naturally  join  those  whom 
they  think  pursuing  the  lesser  evil. 

"Of  all  the  mischiefs  objected  to  the  system  of  measures  be- 
fore mentioned,  none  is  so  affecting  and  fatal  to  every  honest 
hope,  as  the  corruption  of  the  legislature:  as  it  was  the  earliest 
of  these  measures,  it  became  the  instrument  for  producing  the 
rest,  and  will  be  the  instrument  for  producing  in  future  a  king, 
lords,  and  commons,  or  whatever  else  those  who  direct  it  may 
choose.  Withdrawn  such  a  distance  from  the  eye  of  their  con- 
stituents, and  those  so  dispersed  as  to  be  inaccessible  to  public 
information,  and  particularly  to  that  of  the  conduct  of  their 
own  representatives,  they  will  form  the  most  corrupt  govern- 
ment on  earth,  if  the  means  of  the  corruption  be  not  prevented. 
The  only  hope  of  safety  hangs  now  on  the  numerous  representa- 
tion which  is  to  come  forward  the  ensuing  year.  Some  of  the 
new  members  will  probably  be,  in  principle  or  interest,  with 
the  present  majority;  but  it  is  expected  that  the  great  mass 
will  form  an  accession  to  the  republican  party.  They  will  not 
be  able  to  undo  all  which  the  two  preceding  legislatures,  and 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  385 

especially  the  first,  have  done.  Public  faith  and  right  will  op- 
pose this.  But  some  parts  of  the  system  may  be  rightfully  re- 
formed; a  liberation  from  the  rest  unremittingly  pursued,  as  fast 
as  right  will  permit,  and  the  door  shut  in  future  against  similar 
commitments  of  the  nation.  Should  the  next  legislature  take 
this  course,  it  will  draw  upon  them  the  whole  monarchical  and 
paper  interest.  But  the  latter,  I  think,  will  not  go  all  lengths 
with  the  former;  because  creditors  will  never,  of  their  own  ac- 
cord, fly  off  entirely  from  their  debtors.  Therefore,  this  is  the 
alternative  least  likely  to  produce  convulsion.  But,  should  the 
majority  of  the  new  members  be  still  in  the  same  principles 
with  the  present,  and  show  that  we  have  nothing  to  expect  but 
a  continuance  of  the  same  practices,  it  is  not  easy  to  conjec- 
ture what  would  be  the  result,  nor  what  means  would  be  re- 
sorted to,  for  correction  of  the  evils.  True  wisdom  would  direct 
that  they  should  be  temperate  and  peaceable,  but  the  division 
of  sentiment  and  interest  happens  unfortunately  to  be  so  geo- 
graphical, that  no  mortal  can  say  that  what  is  most  wise  and 
temperate  would  prevail  against  what  is  more  easy  and  ob- 
vious. 

"I  can  scarcely  contemplate  a  more  incalculable  evil  than 
the  breaking  of  the  Union  into  two  or  more  parts;  yet,  when 
we  view  the  mass  which  opposed  the  original  coalescence; 
when  we  consider  that  it  lay  chiefly  in  the  Southern  quarter; 
that  the  legislature  have  availed  themselves  of  no  occasion  of 
Haying  it,  but,  on  the  contrary,  whenever  Northern  and 
Southern  prejudices  have  come  into  conflict,  the  latter  have 
been  sacrificed,  and  the  former  soothed;  that  the  owners  of  the 
debt  are  in  the  Southern,  and  the  holders  of  it  in  the  Northern 
division;  that  the  anti-federal  champions  are  now  strengthened 
in  argument  by  the  fulfilment  of  their  predictions;  that  this  has 
been  brought  about  by  the  monarchical  federalists  themselves, 
who,  having  been  for  the  new  government  merely  as  a  stepping 
stone  to  monarchy,  have  themselves  adopted  the  very  construc- 
tion of  the  constitution,  of  which,  when  advocating  its  accept- 
ance before  the  tribunal  of  the  people,  they  declared  it  unsus- 
ceptible; that  the  republican  federalists,  who  espoused  the  same 
VOL.  I.— 49 


386  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

government  for  its  intrinsic  merits,  are  disarmed  of  their  wea- 
pons— that  which  they  denied  as  prophecy  having  become  true 
history:  who  can  be  sure  that  these  things  may  not  proselyte 
the  small  number  which  was  wanting  to  place  the  majority  on 
the  other  side?  And  this  is  the  event  at  which  I  tremble,  and 
to  prevent  which,  I  consider  your  continuance  at  the  head  of 
affairs  as  of  the  last  importance.  The  confidence  of  the  whole 
nation  is  centred  in  you.  You  being  at  the  helm  will  be  more 
than  an  answer  to  every  argument  which  can  be  used  to  alarm 
and  lead  the  people,  in  any  quarter,  into  violence  or  secession. 
North  and  South  will  hang  together,  if  they  have  you  to  hang 
on;  and  if  the  first  corrective  of  a  numerous  representation 
should  fail  in  its  effect,  your  presence  will  give  time  for  trying 
others  not  inconsistent  with  the  union  and  peace  of  the  states. 

"I  am  perfectly  aware  of  the  oppression  under  which  your 
present  office  lays  your  mind,  and  of  the  ardour  with  which  you 
pant  for  retirement  to  domestic  life;  but  there  is  sometimes  an 
eminence  of  character  on  which  society  has  such  peculiar 
claims,  as  to  control  the  predilections  of  the  individual  for  a 
particular  walk  of  happiness,  and  restrain  him  to  that  alone 
arising  from  the  present  and  future  benedictions  of  mankind. 
This  seems  to  be  your  condition,  and  the  law  imposed  on  you 
by  Providence  in  forming  your  character,  and  fashioning  the 
events  on  which  it  was  to  operate;  and  it  is  to  motives  like 
these,  and  not  to  personal  anxieties  of  mine  or  others,  who  have 
no  right  to  call  on  you  for  sacrifices,  that  I  appeal  from  your 
former  determination,  and  urge  a  revisal  of  it,  on  the  ground 
of  change  in  the  aspect  of  things.  Should  an  honest  majority 
result  from  the  new  and  enlarged  representation;  should  those 
acquiesce  whose  principles  or  interests  they  may  control,  your 
wishes  for  retirement  would  be  gratified  with  less  danger,  ns 
soon  as  that  shall  be  manifest,  without  awaiting  the  completion 
of  the  second  period  of  four  years.  One  or  two  sessions  will 
determine  the  crisis,  and  I  cannot  but  hope  that  you  can  re- 
solve to  add  one  or  two  more  to  the  many  years  you  have 
already  sacrificed  to  the  good  of  mankind. 

"The  fear  of  suspicion  that  any  selfish  motive  of  continuance 
in  office  may  enter  into  this  solicitation  on  my  part,  obliges  me 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  387 

to  declare  that  no  such  motive  exists.  It  is  a  thing  of  mere  in- 
difference to  the  public,  whether  I  retain  or  relinquish  my  pur- 
pose of  closing  my  tour  with  the  first  periodical  renovation  of 
the  government.  I  know  my  own  measure  too  well  to  suppose 
that  my  services  contribute  any  thing  to  the  public  confidence, 
or  the  public  utility.  Multitudes  can  fill  the  office  in  which 
you  have  been  pleased  to  place  me,  as  much  to  their  advantage 
and  satisfaction.  I,  therefore,  have  no  motive  to  consult  but 
my  own  inclination,  which  is  bent  irresistibly  on  the  tranquil 
enjoyment  of  my  family,  my  farm,  and  my  books.  I  should  re- 
pose among  them,  it  is  true,  in  far  greater  security,  if  I  were 
to  know  that  you  remained  at  the  watch,  and  I  hope  it  will  be 
so.  To  the  inducements  urged  from  a  view  of  our  domestic 
affairs,  I  will  add  a  bare  mention  of  what  need  only  be  men- 
tioned, that  weighty  motives  for  your  continuance  are  to  be 
found  in  our  foreign  affairs.  I  think  it  probable  that  both  the 
Spanish  and  English  negotiations,  if  not  complete  before  your 
purpose  is  known,  will  be  suspended  from  the  moment  it  is 
known;  and  that  the  latter  nation  will  then  use  double  dili- 
gence in  fomenting  the  Indian  war.  With  my  wishes  for  the 
future,  I  shall  at  the  same  time  express  my  gratitude  for  the 
past — at  least  my  portion  of  it;  and  beg  permission  to  follow 
you,  whether  in  public  or  private  life,  with  those  sentiments 
of  sincere  attachment  and  respect  with  which  I  am  unalterably, 
"Dear  sir,  your  affectionate  friend  and  humble  servant, 

"THOMAS  JEFFERSON." 

The  president  having  left  Mount  Vernon  before  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son's letter  of  the  23d  of  May  reached  that  place,  it  had  follow- 
ed him  to  Philadelphia.  He  mentioned  the  fact  to  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son, and  proposed  to  have  a  conversation  with  him  on  the  sub- 
ject of  his  retirement;  and  one  accordingly  took  place,  early  in 
July.  He  there  went  over  the  same  ground  as  at  their  conference 
in  February,  relative  to  his  motives,  first,  for  accepting  the  office 
of  president,  and  then  for  continuing  in  it,  and  to  his  anxiety 
to  withdraw  from  public  life;  said,  however,  that  he  would  con- 
quer his  desire  for  retirement,  if  he  believed  the  apprehensions  of 


388  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

danger  were  well  founded;  but  that  he  thought  the  "suspicions 
against  a  particular  party  had  been  carried  a  great  deal  too 
far;  there  might  be  desires,  but  he  did  not  believe  there  were 
designs  to  change  the  form  of  government  into  a  monarchy;  that 
there  might  be  a  few  who  wished  it  in  the  higher  walks  of  life, 
particularly  in  the  great  cities;  but  that  the  main  body  of  the 
people  in  the  Eastern  states  were  as  steadily  for  republicanism 
as  in  the  Southern:"  that  "the  pieces  lately  published,  and  par- 
ticularly in  Freneau's  paper,  seemed  to  have  in  view  the  excit- 
ing opposition  to  the  government,"  and  that  it  had  been  success- 
ful in  Pennsylvania,  as  to  the  excise  laws:  "that  they  tended  to 
produce  a  separation  of  the  Union,  the  most  dreadful  of  all 
calamities,  and  that  whatever  tended  to  produce  anarchy,  tend- 
ed, of  course,  to  produce  a  resort  to  monarchical  government. 
He  considered  those  papers  as  attacking  him  directly,  for  he 
must  be  a  fool  indeed  to  swallow  the  little  sugar  plums  here 
and  there  thrown  out  to  him:  that  in  condemning  the  adminis- 
tration, they  condemned  him,  for,  if  they  thought  the  mea- 
sures pursued  contrary  to  his  sentiments,  they  must  conceive 
him  too  careless  to  attend  to  them,  or  too  stupid  to  understand 
them;  that  though  he  had  signed  many  acts  which  he  did  not 
approve  in  all  their  parts,  he  had  never  put  his  name  to  one 
which  he  did  not  think,  on  the  whole,  was  eligible:  that,  as  to 
the  bank,  which  had  been  the  object  of  so  much  complaint, 
until  there  was  some  infallible  criterion  of  reason,  a  difference 
of  opinion  must  be  tolerated."  He  added  that,  from  what  he 
had  heard  and  seen  in  his  late  journey,  he  did  not  believe  the 
discontents  extended  far  from  the  seat  of  government;  but  he 
wished  to  be  better  informed  on  this  head,  as  if  they  were  more 
extensive  than  he  supposed,  the  desire  for  him  to  remain  at  the 
head  of  the  government  might  not  be  general. 

Mr.  Jefferson's  observations  tended  principally  to  enforce  the 
topics  of  his  letter.  He  said  that  the  two  great  complaints 
were,  that  the  national  debt  was  unnecessarily  increased,  and 
that  it  had  furnished  the  means  of  corrupting  both  branches  of 
the  legislature,  as  it  was  notorious  to  all  that  there  was  a  con- 
siderable squadron  in  both,  whose  votes  were  devoted  to  the 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  389 

paper  and  stock-jobbing  interest:  that,  on  examining  their 
votes,  they  would  be  found  in  favour  of  every  treasury  mea- 
sure, and  as  most  of  these  measures  had  been  carried  by  small 
majorities,  they  had  been  carried  by  these  very  votes:  that, 
therefore,  it  was  a  just  cause  of  uneasiness  when  we  thus  saw 
members  legislating  for  their  own  interests,  in  opposition  to 
those  of  the  people.  On  the  subject  of  the  corruption  he  was 
silent,  but  he  defended  the  assumption,  and  argued  that  it  had 
not  increased  the  public  debt,  for  that  all  of  it  was  honest 
debt.  He  regarded  the  excise  law  as  one  of  the  best  which 
could  be  passed,  as  nobody  would  pay  the  tax  who  did  not 
choose  to  pay  it.  Mr.  Jefferson  replied  that  the  objection  to  the 
increase  of  the  debt  by  the  assumption,  was,  that  it  "increased 
the  debt  of  the  general  government,  and  carried  it  beyond  the 
possibility  of  payment:  that  if  the  balances  had  been  settled, 
and  the  debtor  states  directed  to  pay  their  deficiencies  to  the 
creditor  states,  they  would  have  done  it  easily,  by  resources  of 
taxation  in  their  power,  and  acceptable  to  the  people — by  a 
direct  tax  in  the  South  and  an  excise  in  the  North:"  to  which 
General  Washington  replied,  that  the  money  would  still  be  paid 
by  the  people. 

Whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  course  of  policy  which  had 
been  pursued,  and  which  it  is  probable  men  will  approve  or 
condemn,  according  as  they  think  our  complex  system  of  govern- 
ment most  inclines  to  consolidation  or  disunion,  we  can  now 
perceive  errors  in  the  reasoning  of  both  parties  on  this  occasion. 
Thus,  while  General  Washington  justly  insisted  that  the  money 
was  paid  by  the  people,  whether  it  was  levied  by  the  states 
or  the  general  government;  and  that  it  made  no  difference  to 
the  national  wealth  whether  it  was  paid  one  way  or  the  other; 
yet  there  might  be  a  great  difference  in  the  means  they  seve- 
rally possessed  of  raising  money  by  taxes,  and  the  people  might 
have  endured  a  degree  of  taxation  from  the  legislatures  of  their 
respective  states,  which  their  representatives  in  Congress  could 
not  have  enforced,  and  would  not  have  ventured  on.  So,  al- 
though Mr.  Jefferson  was  clearly  right  in  maintaining  that  the 
public  debt  would  have  been  sooner  paid  off,  yet  time  has  shown 


390  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

that  he  was  mistaken  in  supposing  its  final  redemption  impos- 
sible, since  it  is  now  discharged,  though  it  was  subsequently  in- 
creased nearly  twenty  millions  of  dollars  by  the  purchase  of 
Louisiana  and  Florida,  and  seventy  millions  by  the  war  with 
England.  If  Mr.  Jefferson  had  not  added  to  it  by  the  Louisiana 
purchase,  it  would  have  been  reduced  more  than  half,  during 
his  own  administration. 

That  the  assumption  of  the  debt  brought  an  accession  of 
strength  to  the  administration  among  the  members  of  congress 
there  seems  no  room  to  doubt,  but  whether  the  government  could 
not  have  got  along  without  this  temporary  support,  may  be  fairly 
questioned;  and  still  more,  whether  the  government  did  not  lose 
by  the  discontent  it  immediately  produced,  and  the  subsequent 
complaint  of  the  excise,  more  than  it  gained  by  the  support  of 
the  fundholders;  especially  as  this  class  would  have  sided  with 
the  government,  if  not  before,  certainly  after  the  funding  of  the 
debt  of  the  whole  confederacy,  and  the  establishment  of  the 
bank. 

It  may  also  be  safely  inferred  that  parties  supporting  and 
opposing  the  leading  measures  of  the  administration,  would  have 
arisen  under  any  course  that  could  have  been  pursued;  and  it 
is  difficult  to  say  whether  they  would  have  been  more  or  less 
injurious  than  those  which  really  existed.  In  this  uncertainty 
of  the  remote  tendency  of  measures,  it  is  the  safest  for  men,  in 
public  as  well  as  private  life,  to  do  nothing  which  violates  the 
principles  of  justice,  truth,  fair  dealing,  and  fidelity  to  engage- 
ments, and  to  trust  that  these  virtues  will  be  in  the  main  most 
productive  of  benefit  to  nations,  as  well  as  to  individuals. 

On  the  9th  of  September,  Mr.  Jefferson  wrote  another  letter 
to  the  President,  then  at  Mount  Vernon,  on  subjects  altogether 
personal  to  himself.  He  first  speaks  of  his  own  "interference 
with  the  concerns  of  the  legislature  for  the  first  time,"  and  says 
he  was  "duped  into  it  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and 
made  a  tool  for  forwarding  his  schemes,  not  then  sufficiently 
understood"  by  him;  that  of  all  the  errors  of  his  political  life,  this 
had  occasioned  him  the  deepest  regret;  and  that  it  had  ever 
been  his  purpose  to  explain  this  to  General  Washington,  when. 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  391 

"from  being  actors  on  the  scene,  they  should  become  uninterested 
spectators  only." 

He  thus  proceeds  to  defend  himself  against  some  anonymous 
attacks  in  the  newspapers,  which  he  attributed  to  Hamilton: 

"He  charges  me — 1.  With  having  written  letters  from  Europe 
to  my  friends  to  oppose  the  present  constitution,  while  depend- 
ing. 2.  With  a  desire  of  not  paying  the  public  debt.  3.  With 
setting  up  a  paper  to  decry  and  slander  the  government. 

"The  first  charge  is  most' false.  I  approved  as  much  of  the 
constitution  as  most  persons,  and  more  of  it  was  disapproved  by 
my  accuser  than  by  me,  and  of  its  parts  most  vitally  repub- 
lican. My  objection  to  the  constitution  was  the  want  of  a  bill 
of  rights — Colonel  Hamilton's,  that  it  wanted  a  king  and  house 
of  lords.  The  sense  of  America  has  approved  my  objection, 
and  added  the  bill  of  rights,  and  not  the  king  and  lords.  I 
wanted  the  presidential  term  longer  and  not  renewable:  "my 
country  thought  otherwise  and  I  have  acquiesced." — As  to  the 
public  debt,  he  emphatically  denies  the  charge,  says  he  wishes 
"the  debt  paid  off  to-morrow:  Colonel  Hamilton,  never;  but  al- 
ways to  remain  in  existence  for  him  to  manage  and  corrupt  the 
legislature." 

He  next  defends  himself  for  giving  Freneau,  the  poet,  an 
appointment  in  his  office:  says  he  could  safely  declare  that  his 
expectations  looked  only  to  the  chastisement  of  the  aristocrati- 
cal  and  monarchical  writers,  and  not  to  any  criticisms  on  the 
proceedings  of  the  government:  that  Hamilton  could  see  no 
motive  for  any  appointment  but  that  of  making  a  convenient 
partisan,  but  that  the  president  knew  that  talents  and  science 
were  with  him  a  sufficient  recommendation.  Freneau,  as  a 
man  of  genius,  found  a  preference  with  him. 

"Freneau  and  Fenno,"  he  adds,  "are  rivals  for  the  public 
favour:  the  one  courts  them  by  flattery,  the  other  by  censure; 
and  I  believe  it  will  be  admitted  that  the  one  has  been  as  ser- 
vile as  the  other  severe.  But  is  not  the  dignity,  and  even  de- 
cency of  government  committed,  when  one  of  its  ministers  enlists 
himself  as  an  anonymous  writer  or  paragraphist,  for  either  the 


392  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

one  or  the  other  of  them?  And  where  the  press  is  free,  no  one 
ever  will.  If  virtuous,  he  need  not  fear  the  fair  operation  of 
attack  and  defence.  Nature  has  given  to  man  no  other  means 
of  sifting  the  truth,  either  in  religion,  law,  or  politics.  I  think 
it  as  honourable  to  the  government  neither  to  know  nor  to  notice 
sycophants  or  censors,  as  it  would  be  undignified  and  criminal 
to  pamper  the  former  and  persecute  the  latter." 

Few  acts  of  Mr;  Jefferson  have  been  a  more  frequent  theme 
of  party  obloquy  than  his  employment  of  this  editor,  as  a  clerk 
in  the  state  department;  and  as  the  paper  openly  and  warmly 
condemned  some  of  the  leading  measures  of  the  administration 
while  he  was  a  member  of  it,  on  the  ground  of  their  anti-repub- 
lican tendency,  he  has  been  charged  not  only  with  a  want  of 
courtesy  to  his  associates,  but  with  a  breach  of  moral  duty,  in 
thus  giving  the  paper  his  countenance  and  support.  But  against 
no  aspersion  of  his  enemies  is  his  vindication  more  easy.  On  the 
public  measures  thus  condemned,  his  opinions  were  known,  in 
the  cabinet  and  out  of  it,  to  be  diametrically  opposite  to  those 
of  Mr.  Hamilton,  their  chief  adviser;  and  while  the  press  was 
made  to  assail  him,  his  opinions,  and  motives,  he  surely  had  a 
right  to  use  the  same  weapon  in  their  defence.  But  further: 
according  to  his  views  of  the  interests  of  the  country,  and  of  the 
object  and  tendency  of  Hamilton's  policy,  it  was  not  only  his 
right,  but  his  duty,  to  endeavour  to  operate  upon  public  opi- 
nion, which  was  to  be  the  final  arbiter  between.  In  availing 
himself  of  this  auxiliary,  he  seems  never  to  have  transcended 
the  bounds  of  legitimate  warfare.  He  practised  no  conceal- 
ment either  of  his  principles  or  of  his  patronage  of  Freneau; 
he  betrayed  no  confidence;  he  countenanced  no  doctrines  in 
that  paper  which  he  did  not  maintain  every  where  else.  It 
does  not  appear  that  he  ever  wrote  for  the  paper,  for  that  did 
not  accord  with  his  notions  either  of  prudence  or  propriety;  but 
had  he  done  so,  he  might  have  defended  himself  by  the  exam- 
ple of  his  political  antagonists.  It  must  also  be  recollected  that 
the  political  principles  and  measures  of  Hamilton  and  his  adhe- 
rents were  the  chief  objects  of  attack  in  the  National  Gazette, 
while  the  president,  who  was  never  confounded  with  them,  was 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  393 

always  treated  with  decorum  and  respect.     In  every  aspect, 
then,  the  charge  appears  to  be  frivolous  or  unfounded.* 

Mr.  Jefferson  records  another  conversation  which  he  held 
with  General  Washington,  at  Mount  Vernon,  on  the  1st  of  Oc- 
tober, on  his  return  to  Philadelphia  from  Monticello.  The 
president  expressed  his  regret  at  Mr.  Jefferson's  intention  of 
withdrawing  from  public  life,  especially  so  long  as  he  himself 
continued  in  office;  he  remarked,  that  he  was  yet  undecided 
whether  to  retire  in  March  or  not.  That  he  earnestly  wished  to 
retire.  That  he  was  happy  at  home;  and  his  presence  was 
more  than  ever  necessary,  by  the  state  of  Major  Washington's 
health.  That  he  did  not  conceive  his  immediate  agency  neces- 
sary; that  there  were  others  who  would  do  the  business  as  well, 
or  better:  yet  if  his  aid  was  thought  necessary,  he  would  make 
the  sacrifice.  That  he  reserved  himself  for  a  future  decision, 
and  had  requested  Mr.  Lear  to  discover  whether  any  other  per- 
son was  desired.  This  gentleman  had  informed  him  it  was  the 
universal  wish  that  he  should  continue;  and  he  believed  that 
those  who  expressed  a  doubt  of  his  continuance,  did  it  in  the 
language  of  apprehension,  and  not  of  desire.  But  this  was  only 
from  the  North:  it  might  be  very  different  in  the  South.  Mr. 
Jefferson  told  him  that  as  far  as  he  knew,  there  was  but  one 
voice  there,  which  was  for  his  continuance.  That  as  to  him- 
self, he  had  ever  preferred  the  pursuits  of  private  life.  He 
then  explained  the  circumstances  which  had  first  called  him 
into  public  life,  and  had  afterwards  kept  him  there.  That  as 
to  General  Washington,  his  presence  was  important,  as  he  alone 
possessed  the  general  confidence;  and  the  longer  he  remained, 
the  stronger  would  become  the  habits  of  the  people  in  obedience 
to  the  laws  and  attachment  to  the  government:  that  every 

*  Mr.  Jefferson  had  yet  a  further  ground  of  vindication,  had  he  need- 
ed it,  though  he  never  deigned  to  make  use  of  it;  and  this  was  the  fact, 
that  the  National  Gazette  was  not  set  up  by  him,  but  by  Mr.  Madison 
and  General  Henry  Lee,  then  Governor  of  Virginia,  and  afterwards  so 
warm  a  federal  partizan,  for  the  double  purpose  of  assisting  Freneau, 
who  had  been  their  fellow  collegian  at  Princeton,  and  of  affording  the 
public  an  opportunity  of  hearing  the  arguments  of  both  the  parties  that 
then  divided  the  country. 
VOL.  I.— 50 


394  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON, 

other  person  would  be  regarded  merely  as  the  head  of  a  party. 
The  president  then  expressed  regret  at  the  difference  between 
Mr.  Jefferson  and  Colonel  Hamilton,  which  he  had  not  thought 
amounted  to  a  personal  difference,  and  wished  he  could  be  a  me- 
diator between  them:  said  that  he  was  desirous  of  preserving  the 
check  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  opinions,  in  the  administration,  in  order 
to  keep  things  in  their  proper  channel:  and  that  as  to  the  scheme 
of  transforming  this  government  into  a  monarchy,  he  did  not 
believe  there  were  ten  men  in  the  United  States,  worthy  of  no- 
tice, who  entertained  such  a  thought. 

Mr.  Jefferson  replied,  that  there  "were  more  than  he  imagined." 
He  recalled  to  his  memory  a  dispute  at  his  own  table,  between 
General  Schuyler  on  one  side,  and  Mr.  Pinckney  and  Mr.  Jefferson 
on  the  other,  wherein  the  former  maintained  the  opinion,  that 
hereditary  descent  was  "as  likely  to  produce  good  magistrates  as 
election."*  He  said  that  there  was  a  numerous  sect  who  had 
monarchy  in  contemplation,  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
was  one  of  them,  of  which  he  adduced  evidence  from  his  own 
declarations.  That  when  we  reflected  that  he  had  endeavour- 
ed in  the  convention  to  make  an  English  constitution,  and  fail- 
ing in  that,  when  we  saw  all  his  measures  tending  to  the  same 
thing,  it  was  natural  to  be  jealous,  particularly  when  we  wit- 
nessed his  influence  in  the  legislature.  That  so  long  as  the 
three  great  branches  of  power  remained  independent,  there 
was  no  danger;  but  he  could  not  but  be  uneasy,  when  he  saw 
that  the  executive  had  swallowed  up  the  legislative  branch. 

To  this,  the  president  rejoined,  that  an  interested  spirit  in  the 
legislature  could  not  be  avoided  in  any  government,  unless  par- 
ticular classes  were  excluded.  Mr.  Jefferson  distinguished 
between  the  accidental  schemes  of  self-interest  and  a  regu- 
lar system  of  forming  a  corps,  who  should  be  steadily  under  the 

*  This  discussion  is  mentioned  by  Mr.  Jefferson  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Madi- 
son, of  June  10,  1792,  in  which  he  remarks,  that  "he  was  not  sorry  to  per- 
ceive that  General  Washington  attended  to  the  conversation,  as  it  would 
corroborate  the  designs  imputed  to  the  leading  federalists." 

It  was  probably  on  this  occasion  that  Mr.  Jefferson,  by  way  of  throw- 
ing ridicule  on  the  proposition  maintained  by  General  Schuyler,  men- 
tioned some  college  in  Germany,  in  which  there  was  an  hereditary 
Professor  of  Mathematics. 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  395 

orders  of  the  treasury.  General  Washington  then  adverting  to 
the  funding  system,  said  that  experience  alone  could  determine 
which  opinion  concerning  it  was  right.  That  for  himself,  he 
had  seen  our  affairs  desperate  and  our  credit  lost,  and  that  it 
was  suddenly  raised  to  the  highest  pitch.  Mr.  Jefferson  said 
that  nothing  more  was  necessary  to  establish  our  credit  than 
an  efficient  government,  and  an  honest  one,  which  would  lay 
taxes  for  paying  our  debts,  and  then  apply  them.  The  presi- 
dent concluded  by  another  exhortation  to  Mr.  Jefferson,  not  to 
decide  too  positively  on  retirement. 

Mr.  Jefferson  made  a  visit  to  Monticello  in  the  autumn,  and 
one  of  the  first  official  acts  after  he  returned  to  Philadelphia, 
was  to  complain  to  the  Spanish  government  through  our  minis- 
ters, that  the  Creek  Indians  on  our  southern  border,  within  the 
limits  of  Florida,  had  been  incited  to  hostilities  by  the  Baron  de 
Carondelet,  Governor  of  Louisiana,  and  had  been  liberally  fur- 
nished by  him  with  arms  and  ammunition.  They  were  urged 
not  only  to  punish  this  act  of  aggression,  but  also  to  propose  mu- 
tual stipulations,  that  neither  Spain  nor  the  United  States  should 
have  agents  among  the  savages  inhabiting  the  territory  of 
either. 

Soon  after  these  instructions  were  written,  two  commissioners 
arrived  from  Spain,  Messrs.  Vier  and  Jaudenes,  for  the  purpose 
of  interposing  in  behalf  of  the  Creeks,  whom,  it  had  been  alleg- 
ed, the  United  States  had  threatened  with  destruction  during 
the  current  year.  They  proposed  that  the  interests  of  both 
nations  in  this  matter  should  be  discussed  in  the  negotiations 
about  to  be  opened  at  Madrid. 

Mr.  Jefferson  answered  this  letter  on  the  1st  of  November.  He 
denied  that  any  such  menaces  of  destruction  had  been  thrown 
out  against  the  Creeks,  but  stated  that  the  United  States  had 
been  most  perseveringly  anxious  to  preserve  peace  with  them, 
and  had  even  from  this  desire  of  peace,  forborne  to  mark  the 
boundary  between  them  and  us,  to  which  they  had  fairly 
and  freely  assented,  in  the  hope  that  they  would  relinquish  their 
subsequent  opposition  to  it.  He  agreed  that  the  relative  inte- 
rests of  the  two  nations  with  the  Creeks,  was  a  proper  subject 
of  discussion  at  Madrid.  The  ground  upon  which  these  com- 


396  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

missioners  pretended  a  right  to  interfere  in  this  matter,  was 
that  of  unsettled  boundary  between  Spain  and  the  United 
States,  but  they  disclaimed  all  right  of  affording  protection  to 
Indian  tribes  within  the  territory  admitted  to  be  ours. 

It  seems  that  when  this  subject  was  discussed  in  the  cabinet 
on  the  last  day  of  October,  as  to  the  course  to  be  taken  by  the 
executive,  both  with  Congress  and  Spain,  Mr.  Jefferson  proposed 
that  the  letter  from  the  Spanish  commissioners  should  be  commu- 
nicated to  Congress,  as  it  might  influence  them  in  deciding  whe- 
ther it  would  be  prudent  to  declare  war  against  any,  and  which 
of  the  Indians  to  the  South;  and  he  thought  that  in  assenting  to 
the  proposition  of  those  commissioners,  to  refer  the  subject  to  the 
negotiators  at  Madrid,  we  should  further  continue  the  suspension 
of  Indian  hostilities,  reserve  our  rights  of  boundary,  and  avoid  a 
rupture  with  Spain. 

Colonel  Hamilton  was  opposed  to  any  measures  which  would 
be  likely  to  involve  us  in  war,  for  which  we  were  so  little  pre- 
pared, and  which  would  so  impede  our  career  of  prosperity. 
He  was  for  every  thing  which  would  procrastinate  the  event; 
but  he  regarded  it  as  ultimately  inevitable,  from  the  jealousy  of 
the  Spanish  government.  He  thought  that  we  should  prepare 
ourselves  then  for  the  rupture,  by  providing  an  ally.  That  of 
the  only  two  nations  which  could  serve  us  in  this  character — 
France  and  England — France  was  too  intimately  connected 
with  Spain  to  separate  on  our  account;  nor  could  her  situation 
allow  her  to  assist  us  much.  That  we  must,  therefore,  look  to 
England,  and  that  she  might  be  induced  to  enter  into  a  defen- 
sive treaty  of  alliance  with  us,  first,  from  the  desire  of  breaking 
up  our  former  connexions:  secondly,  for  a  continuance  of  the 
commerce  of  the  two  countries  in  its  present  state  for  ten  years: 
thirdly,  for  an  admission  to  some  navigable  part  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, by  some  line  drawn  from  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  in  which 
case,  the  navigation  of  that  river,  being  a  joint  possession,  we 
might  unite  in  measures  to  secure  it.  He  was,  therefore,  for 
sounding  the  British  government  immediately  on  these  points. 

Mr.  Randolph  opposed  such  an  alliance,  and  concurred  in 
Mr.  Jefferson's  views.  The  president,  who  seems  to  have  held 
the  balance  between  his  rival  ministers,  with  a  firm  and  impar- 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  397 

tial  hand,  said,  that  the  remedy  suggested  by  Colonel  Hamilton 
would  be  worse  than  the  disease;  and  stated  some  of  the  dis- 
agreeable consequences  of  making  such  an  overture. 

Congress  met  on  the  5th  of  November,  1792;  and  the  presi- 
dent, in  his  opening  speech,  was  silent  on  our  foreign  relations; 
for  the  administration  had  been  for  some  time  at  a  loss  what 
course  it  became  the  United  States  to  pursue,  in  the  distracted 
state  of  French  affairs.  On  the  14th  of  October,  Mr.  Jefferson 
had  written  to  Gouverneur  Morris,  that  as  the  late  constitution  of 
France  was  suspended,  and  a  new  convention  called,  our  govern- 
ment could  not  continue  the  payment  of  our  debt  to  that  nation, 
because  there  was  no  person  authorized  to  receive  it,  and  give 
a  satisfactory  acquittal:  and  on  the  7th  of  November,  he  was 
also  told,  that  as  his  situation  in  Paris  must  have  been  delicate 
and  difficult,  "whenever  the  scene  became  personally  danger- 
ous, it  was  proper  he  should  abandon  it,  submitting  it  to  himself 
to  judge  of  the  danger,  and  of  the  place  of  retirement.  He 
was  also  told,  that  it  accorded  with  our  principles  to  acknow- 
ledge any  government,  "which  was  formed  by  the  will  of  the 
nation  substantially  declared."  With  such  a  government  every 
kind  of  business  may  be  done.  But  there  were  some  matters 
which  might  be  transacted  with  a  government  de  facto,  such  as 
reforming  restrictions  in  trade.  Mr.  Ternant  was  informed 
about  the  same  time,  that  with  every  disposition  on  our  part  to 
assist  the  French  colonies,  we  could  not  continue  to  furnish 
them  with  supplies,  without  the  sanction  of  the  French  govern- 
ment, it  affording  reasonable  ground  of  presumption,  that  they 
proposed  to  relieve  them  in  some  other  way,  if  they  refused  to 
express  their  approbation  of  this  mode.  It  was,  however,  add- 
ed, that  the  $40,000  wanted  for  the  month  of  December,  would 
be  advanced.  On  this  subject,  there  appears  to  have  been  the 
usual  difference  of  opinion,  between  Jefferson  and  Hamilton. 
While  the  former  admitted,  that  the  National  Assembly,  since 
the  dethronement  of  the  king,,  was  riot  an  integral  legislature, 
and  therefore  not  competent  to  give  a  legitimate  discharge  of 
our  payments,  he  maintained  that  the  National  Convention,  re- 
cently called,  was  such  a  body.  On  this  point  Hamilton  doubt- 
ed; and  also,  whether,  if  the  king  should  be  re-established,  he 


398  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

might  not  properly  disallow  subsequent  payments.  The  other 
members,  including  General  Knox,  concurred  with  Mr.  Jefferson. 

A  few  weeks  afterwards,December  the  27th,  the  president  re- 
marked to  Mr.  Jefferson,  that  he  thought  it  was  time  to  endeav- 
our to  effect  a  stricter  connexion  with  France,  and  that  Gou- 
verneur  Morris  should  be  written  to  on  the  subject.  Adverting 
then  to  the  causes  of  dissatisfaction  with  Great  Britain  and 
Spain,  he  observed,  that  there  was  no  nation  on  whom  we  could 
rely  at  all  times,  but  France,  and  that  we  ought  to  prepare  in 
time,  in  case  of  a  rupture  with  the  other  two.  Mr.  Jefferson 
expresses  himself  as  highly  pleased  with  these  remarks.  They 
conformed  "to  the  doctrine  which  had  been  his  polar  star,"  be- 
fore the  success  of  the  French  arms.  He  then  suggested,  that 
we  ought  to  go  on  with  our  payments  of  the  French  debt,  to 
the  National  Convention,  or  to  any  government  they  should 
establish;  and  he  suggested,  that  the  money  borrowed  in  Am- 
sterdam, to  pay  off  the  French  debt,  which  was  now  about  to 
be  diverted  by  Congress  to  the  payment  of  the  debt  due  to  the 
bank,  was  "a  trick  to  serve  the  bank  under  great  existing  em- 
barrassment." 

In  his  answer  to  Mr.  Pinckney,  asking  instructions  how  to 
conduct  himself  as  to  the  French  revolution,  Mr.  Jefferson  says, 
he  took  occasion  to  lay  down  "the  catholic  principles  of  repub- 
licanism; that  every  people  may  establish  what  form  of  govern- 
ment they  please,  and  change  it  as  they  please."  His  motive 
was  to  extract  the  president's  opinion  on  the  point  which  divided 
Hamilton  and  himself,  as  to  the  suspension  of  payments  to 
France;  and  if  favourable,  to  place  the  principles  on  record  in 
the  letter  book  of  the  office.  He,  therefore,  sent  his  letter  to  Pinck- 
ney to  the  president,  who  returned  his  approbation  in  writing. 

The  debates  in  Congress,  at  this  period,  show  that  the  two 
great  parties  had  become  more  widely  separated,  and  that  in- 
creasing differences  of  political  sentiment,  together  with  personal 
rivalry,  had  now  ripened  into  acrimonious  hostility. 

One  of  the  occasions  of  party  controversy  at  that  time,  was 
afforded  by  the  practice  of  referring  every  measure  at  all  con- 
nected with  the  finances  of  the  country,  to  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  which  practice  was  resisted  by  most  of  the  republi- 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  399 

can  party,  as  transferring  to  the  executive  department,  what 
properly  belonged  to  the  legislative;  and  which,  implying  either 
incapacity  or  unwillingness  in  the  House  to  perform  its  appro- 
priate duty,  was  derogatory  to  its  dignity  and  to  a  course  of  inde- 
pendent legislation.  If  a  part  of  this  opposition  may  be  regard- 
ed as  applying  personally  to  Mr.  Hamilton,  yet  when  it  is 
recollected  that  he  was  the  known  advocate  of  a  government 
with  strong  executive  powers,  and  that  his  talents,  virtues,  and 
recent  schemes  of  policy,  gave  him  unbounded  influence  with 
his  party,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered,  that  those  who  entertained 
different  political  principles,  manifested  impatience  at  seeing 
him  thus  permitted  to  originate  and  direct  the  chief  measures 
of  the  government.  If  they  sometimes  exposed  themselves  to 
the  imputation  of  illiberal  jealousy  of  the  man,  rather  than  hos- 
tility to  his  acts,  their  adversaries  were  no  less  obnoxious  to  the 
charge  of  an  indiscriminating  and  obsequious  deference  to  his 
plans;  and,  presuming  the  general  practice  in  legislative  bodies, 
and  in  Congress  itself,  since  that  time,  to  be  right,  the  democratic 
party  must  be  admitted  to  have  had  juster  views  of  their  own 
duty  and  self-respect  than  their  opponents,  by  whose  votes  every 
scheme  of  funding  the  public  debt,  of  providing  money  by  taxes 
or  loans,  and  of  disbursing  it  was  devolved  on  this  officer;  and 
to  whom  the  merits  even  of  private  claims  were  generally  sub- 
mitted, before  they  received  the  definitive  action  of  Congress. 
Whatever  may  be  the  influence  of  committees  in  legislative 
bodies — and  it  has  always  been  deemed  considerable — that  in- 
fluence was  bestowed  in  a  mass  on  Mr.  Hamilton,  who  might  be 
regarded  as  the  standing  committee  of  the  House,  on  every 
question  which  concerned  the  public  treasury. 

An  occasion  was  soon  presented  of  renewing  this  subject  of 
irritation.  On  the  19th  of  November,  Mr.  Fitzsimmons  in  com- 
mittee of  the  whole,  offered  resolutions,  which  proposed  "a  reduc- 
tion of  the  public  debt,  so  far  as  it  was  then  redeemable;"  and 
required  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  report  a  plan  for  that 
purpose.  After  some  general  objections  to  acting  on  the  reso- 
lution, until  the  House  obtained  fuller  information  of  the 
state  of  the  finances  than  it  then  possessed,  the  debate  turned 
altogether  on  the  proposed  reference,  which  was  assailed  and 


400  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

defended  on  the  usual  grounds.  The  motion  was  finally  carried 
on  the  21st,  by  32  votes  to  25;  nearly  every  vote,  south  of 
Pennsylvania,  voting  in  the  negative. 

On  the  following  day,  the  secretary  was  called  on  in  like 
manner,  to  prepare  a  plan  for  paying  to  the  hank  the  two  mil- 
lions which  the  government  owed  it  for  the  stock  it  had  sub- 
scribed, and  which,  by  the  charter,  was  to  be  paid  in  ten  annual 
instalments.  It  seems  that  the  southern  members  forbore  to 
renew  a  fruitless  opposition  to  the  reference,  on  this  occasion,  as 
the  motion  was  adopted  without  debate. 

At  the  end  of  a  week,  the  secretary  made  a  report,  embrac- 
ing both  subjects.  On  that  of  redeeming  a  part  of  the  debt,  he 
proposed  several  plans;  and  after  discussing  their  several  merits, 
he  decided  in  favour  of  the  one  which  had  recourse  to  loans,  on  the 
credit  of  short  annuities,  by  which  about  six  and  a  half  millions 
would  be  paid  offin  ten  years;  and  to  effect  this,  he  proposed  a 
tax,  either  on  riding  horses  or  carriages.  For  the  "reimburse- 
ment" of  the  bank,  he  merely  recommended  that  power  be 
given  to  negotiate  a  loan  for  two  millions;  the  dividends  on  the 
shares  held  by  the  government  to  be  pledged  for  the  interest; 
and  as  the  government  paid  six  per  cent,  to  the  bank,  he  relied 
on  the  saving  that  would  be  effected  by  borrowing  at  a  lower 
rate  of  interest. 

The  administration  party  soon  after  proposed  the  further 
assumption  of  the  state  debts  to  the  amount  of  the  balances 
which,  on  a  final  settlement,  should  be  found  due  to  them.  This 
measure  subsequently  underwent  an  animated  and  protracted 
discussion,  during  the  whole  of  which  it  was  strenuously  resist- 
ed by  the  opposition;  whilst  its  friends,  conscious  of  their 
strength  and  emboldened  by  success,  proceeded  by  amendments 
to  mould  it  more  to  their  purposes,  and  to  make  it  still  more  ob- 
jectionable to  their  adversaries.  They  thus  too  defeated  an  amend- 
ment, by  which  their  opponents,  for  preventing  the  same  course 
of  speculation  and  fraud  as  had  previously  taken  place,  proposed 
to  prohibit  all  transfers  of  certificates  made  between  the  first  of 
January  and  the  first  of  June.  On  the  25th  of  January,  the 
question  was  taken  on  the  passage  of  the  bill,  and  the  House 
being  equally  divided,  it  was  passed  by  the  vote  of  the  speaker. 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  401 

It  was,  however,  contrary  to  all  expectation,  rejected  by  the 
Senate,  by  the  influence,  according  to  Mr.  Jefferson,  of  General 
Washington,  or  Mr.  Langdon  of  New  Hampshire,  who  with  his 
colleague,  as  well  as  the  members  from  Vermont,  voted  on  this 
occasion  with  the  southern  members. 

On  the  20th  of  December  the  bill  which  had  been  previous- 
ly reported  by  a  select  committee  for  repaying  the  two  mil- 
lions due  to  the  bank,  was  debated,  and  a  motion  to  strike  out 
the  first  section,  which  authorized  a  loan  to  the  same  amount, 
having  been  rejected  by  a  large  majority,  Mr.  Madison  moved 
to  insert  $200,000 — the  amount  then  payable  by  the  charter — 
instead  of  two  millions;  and  the  motion  was  supported  by  27 
ayes  to  26  noes;  but  the  speaker  then  voting  in  the  negative, 
the  motion  was  lost.  After  this  victory  of  the  friends  of  the 
bank,  so  near  a  defeat,  the  subject  slept  until  the  end  of  the 
session,  when  the  majority,  either  doubtful  of  their  strength,  or 
of  the  policy  of  using  it,  abandoned  the  measure  they  had  at 
first  so  earnestly  pressed;  and  the  same  motion,  to  strike  out 
the  first  section,  which  on  the  26th  of  December  had  received 
but  17  votes,  was  passed  on  the  27th  of  February,  without  a 
dissentient! 

During  the  next  four  weeks,  the  principal  subjects  of  contro- 
versy between  the  parties  were  the  bill  for  the  assumption, 
which  received  the  support  of  South  Carolina  as  well  as  of  the 
northern  states,  and  a  bill  for  reducing  the  military  establish- 
ment, which  was  brought  forward  by  the  opposition,  with  a 
view  of  rendering  farther  taxation  unnecessary.  But  on  the 
23d  of  January,  a  subject  was  presented  to  the  notice  of  the 
House,  which  not  only  excited  the  liveliest  interest  at  that  time, 
but  engrossed  the  attention  of  the  conflicting  parties  for  the  re- 
mainder of  the  session. 

This  was  a  series  of  resolutions,  offered  by  Mr.  Giles,  the  ob- 
ject of  which  was  generally  understood  to  be,  to  inculpate  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  They  called  on  the  president  for 
copies  of  the  authorities,  under  which  the  loans  authorized  in 
August,  1790,  had  been  made,  and  the  application  of  the  money 
directed;  together  with  the  names  of  the  persons  to  whom  and 

VOL.  I.— 51 


402  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

by  whom  the  money  had  been  paid.  They  required  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury  to  exhibit  statements  of  the  half  monthly 
balances  between  the  United  States  and  the  bank,  of  the  se- 
veral sums  which  had  been  paid  into  the  sinking  fund,  of  the 
sources  whence  derived  and  their  application,  and  of  the 
balance  of  the  unapplied  revenue  for  the  year  1792,  specifying 
the  several  places  of  deposit,  and  amounts  deposited. 

While  the  wish  to  obtain  information  of  the  state  of  the 
finances,  was  the  avowed  object  of  the  mover  of  the  resolutions, 
he  did  not  hesitate  to  impute  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
inaccurary  as  well  as  obscurity  in  his  reports,  and  he  exhibited 
some  estimates,  founded  partly  on  conjecture  and  partly  on  the 
secretary's  reports,  to  show  that  a  large  balance  was  unaccount- 
ed for.  He  alleged  that  Congress  had  been  legislating  in  the 
dark  concerning  their  fiscal  affairs;  in  proof  of  which,  he 
stated  that  500,000  dollars  had  been  borrowed  of  the  bank,  when 
that  institution  had  public  money  on  deposit  to  a  larger  amount, 
and  that  the  House  had  recently  been  near  authorizing  a  fur- 
ther loan  of  two  millions,  without  the  information  which  would 
enable  them  to  judge  whether  such  loan  was  necessary. 

The  resolutions  were  adopted  without  further  debate;  and 
twelve  days  afterwards,  (Feb.  4,)  the  secretary  made  a  partial 
report,  which  principally  responded  to  the  last  resolution,  re- 
specting the  revenue  of  the  preceding  year;  and  he  showed  that, 
whatever  deviation  may  have  taken  place  from  the  letter  of 
the  law  in  his  fiscal  transactions,  or  however  he  may  have  fail- 
ed in  giving  full  information  to  the  House,  there  was  no  money 
unaccounted  for. 

In  this  report,  the  secretary  exhibited  great  sensibility  to  the 
injurious  imputations  on  his  character;  he  pointed  out  the  er- 
rors and  misconceptions  of  his  assailant  with  a  freedom  of  lan- 
guage bordering  on  disrespect;  and  by  way  of  inference  from 
misrepresentations  so  palpable,  he  assailed  the  motives  which 
had  prompted  the  investigation. 

The  House  postponed  the  discussion  of  the  subject  until  the 
further  report  from  the  secretary  was  received,  and  in  the 
mean  time,  (Feb.  llth,)  his  former  plan  of  reducing  the  debt 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  403 

was  taken  up,  in  committee  of  the  whole  House,  and  debated 
on  that  and  the  following  day.  The  minority  opposed  the  plan 
on  several  grounds;  but  principally  from  the  want  of  the  requi- 
site information  on  the  actual  state  of  the  public  finances.  The 
committee  rose  without  coming  to  any  decision,  and  the  discus- 
sion seems  not  to  have  been  renewed  during  the  remainder  of 
the  session. 

On  the  15th,  a  second  report,  and  on  the  19th,  a  third  was 
received  from  the  secretary,  in  answer  to  Mr.  Giles's  resolutions, 
in  which  he  elaborately  defended  the  course  he  had  pursued, 
in  blending  the  two  loans  authorized  by  two  acts  of  Congress  in 
1790;  in  the  amount  of  the  money  he  had  drawn  from  Europe; 
in  the  loans  he  had  made  of  the  banks,  and  in  his  other  trans- 
actions with  that  institution.  He  insisted,  that  he  had  in  no 
instance  exceeded  his  authority;  that  he  had  in  all  his  measures 
been  influenced  by  z,  regard  to  the  public  interests,  and  had, 
moreover,  essentially  promoted  them. 

With  a  view  of  obtaining  information  important  in  the  ap- 
proaching discussion,  on  the  19th  February  Mr.  Giles  offered  a 
resolution  requiring  of  the  commissioners  of  the  sinking  fund  a 
statement  of  their  proceedings,  not  before  published.  This  was 
opposed  by  the  especial  friends  of  Mr.  Hamilton,  who  endeavour- 
ed to  confine  the  inquiry  to  purchases  made;  but  the  resolution 
finally  passed  by  39  votes  to  22. 

On  the  28th  of  February,  Mr.  Giles  offered  a  new  series  of 
resolutions,  in  which  the  conduct  of  the  secretary  was  directly 
censured  for  failing  to  give  information  to  Congress  of  the  mo- 
ney he  had  drawn  from  Europe,  from  December  1790  to 
January  1793;  for  deviations  from  the  acts  of  August,  1790, 
which  authorized  two  separate  loans  for  separate  purposes,  as 
well  as  from  the  instructions  of  the  president  concerning  those 
loans;  for  having  drawn  more  of  the  money  raised  by  those 
loans  into  the  United  States  than  the  acts  authorized;  for  ne- 
gotiating loans  with  the  bank  that  were  not  required  by  the 
public  interests;  and  for  indecorum  to  the  House  in  questioning 
the  motives  of  one  of  its  members.  They  concluded  with  pro- 


404  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

posing  that  a  copy  of  the  resolutions  should  be  transmitted  to 
the  president. 

These  resolutions  gave  rise  to  a  spirited  debate,  which  con- 
tinued until  near  midnight  of  the  1st  of  March.  On  the  ques- 
tion being  taken  in  the  House  to  disagree  to  these  resolutions, 
severally,  the  ayes  varied  from  40  to  33,  and  the  noes  from  15 
to  7.* 

As  the  irregularity  of  the  secretary,  in  deviating  from  the 
acts  which  authorized  the  loans,  and  from  the  president's  writ- 
ten instructions;  in  drawing  more  money  from  Holland  than 
those  acts  authorized;  and  in  failing  to  inform  the  commission- 
ers of  the  sinking  fund  of  what  he  had  drawn,  appear  by  the 
debate  and  the  secretary's  own  report,  to  have  been  established 
beyond  question,  it  may  be  presumed,  that  those  members  of 
the  minority,  who  refused  to  vote  for  the  resolutions,  were  in- 
fluenced by  the  consideration  that  the  public  generally  had  re- 
garded them  as  a  charge  on  the  secretary's  integrity;  and,  that 
as  a  vote  of  censure  would  be  used  by  his  enemies  and  be  re- 
garded by  the  public  as  confirming  that  charge,  the  punish- 
ment seemed  disproportionate  to  the  offence  of  too  free  an  exer- 
cise of  his  discretionary  powers;  especially,  when  Congress 
itself  had,  by  its  previous  unbounded  confidence  in  the  wisdom 
of  his  measures,  and  unhesitating  adoption  of  them,  done  so  much 
to  invite  it.  It  seems  probable  too,  that  the  secretary  having 
proved  himself  innocent  of  the  more  serious  part  of  the  charge, 
the  common  reaction  in  favour  of  those  who  have  been  un- 
justly accused  took  place,  and  inclined  men  to  acquit  him 
altogether. 

The  debate  was  conducted  with  ability  on  both  sides,  and  of 
those  who  will  be  at  the  trouble  to  read  it,  many  may  now,  as 
many  then  did,  incline  to  dissent  from  the  decision  of  the  House. 
Both  in  Congress  and  out  of  it,  the  opinion  that  favour  to  the 

*  The  attentive  reader  will  perceive  that  the  account  here  given  of 
the  proceedings  of  this  session,  (1791—1792,)  materially  varies  from  that 
by  Judge  Marshall,  (vol.  v.  ch.  5.)  But  he  will  also  perceive,  that  the 
variance  consists  principally  in  this;  that  some  facts,  which  I  have  sup- 
posed important  in  the  history  of  parties,  have  been  omitted  by  him. 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  405 

bank  had  been  at  the  bottom  of  all  the  irregularities  complain- 
ed of,  was  very  prevalent,  from  the  fact,  that  it  was  assisted  by 
the  sums  unwarrantably  drawn  from  Europe,  at  the  very  times 
when  it  most  needed  assistance;  from  the  sensibility  which  was 
manifested  by  the  friends  of  the  secretary  and  the  bank,  when- 
ever this  coincidence  was  alluded  to;  and  from  the  proposition 
to  pay  to  the  bank  two  millions  ten  years  before  the  whole 
was  payable. 

A 'few  days  afterwards,  March  2nd,  Mr.  Jefferson  thus  com- 
ments in  his  diary  on  the  fate  of  Mr.  Giles's  resolutions:  "He, 
(Mr.  Giles,)  and  one  or  two  others,  were  sanguine  enough  to  be- 
lieve that  the  palpableness  of  these  resolutions  rendered  it  im- 
possible the  House  could  reject  them.  Those  who  knew  the 
composition  of  the  House:  1.  Of  bank  directors;  2.  holders  of 
bank  stock;  3.  stock-jobbers;  4.  blind  devotees;  5.  ignorant  per- 
sons, who  did  not  comprehend  them;  6.  lazy  and  good  humour- 
ed persons,  who  comprehended  and  acknowledged  them,  yet 
were  too  lazy  to  examine,  or  unwilling  to  pronounce  censure; 
the  persons  who  knew  these  characters,  foresaw,  that  the  three 
first  descriptions  making  one-third  of  the  House,  the  three  lat- 
ter would  make  one-half  of  the  residue;  and  of  course,  that 
they  would  be  rejected  by  a  majority  of  two  to  one.  But  they 
thought,  that  even  this  rejection  would  do  good,  by  showing  the 
public  the  desperate  and  abandoned  dispositions  with  which 
their  affairs  were  conducted.  The  resolutions  were  proposed, 
and  nothing  spared  to  present  them  in  the  fulness  of  demonstra- 
tion. There  were  not  more  than  three  or  four  who  voted 
otherwise  than  had  been  expected." 

The  journals  of  the  day  show  that  the  two  parties  through- 
out the  community  as  well  as  in  Congress,  had  now  become  widely 
separated  in  their  theoretic  views  of  government,  as  well  as  in 
their  feelings  towards  the  French  revolution,  and  far  more  bit- 
ter in  their  mutual  recriminations.  The  republicans  were 
regarded  by  their  federal  opponents  as  churlish  and  discontent- 
ed; envious  of  superior  merit;  jealous  of  the  general  government, 
not  merely  for  the  powers  conferred  on  it  by  the  constitution, 
but  also  for  its  acknowledged  benefits  and  its  splendid  success, 


406  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

before  which  the  inferior  lustre  of  the  states  had  disappeared; 
and  under  the  delusive  theories  of  revolutionary  France,  enter- 
taining notions  of  civil  liberty  inconsistent  with  law  and  order. 
They,  on  the  other  hand,  charged  the  leaders  of  the  federal  par- 
ty with  hostility  to  the  French  revolution,  because  it  had  taught 
the  great  mass  of  the  people  to  feel  and  to  know  their  rights. 
That,  anxious  for  a  more  energetic  government  than  we  yet 
possessed,  and  above  all,  for  one  which  could  bestow  the  privi- 
leges and  distinctions  for  which  they  panted,  they  lost  no  oppor- 
tunity of  increasing  the  power  of  the  general  government  at  the 
expense  of  that  of  the  states,  and  of  concentrating  the  power 
thus  usurped  in  the  federal  executive,  for  the  purpose  of  raising 
up  a  moneyed  aristocracy,  and  of  preparing  the  public  mind  for 
the  meditated  change.  For  proof  of  these  dispositions  and 
schemes,  they  referred  not  only  to  the  funding  system,  the  as- 
sumption, and  the  bank,  but  to  an  aristocratic  Senate,  which 
had  closed  its  doors  to  the  eyes  and  ears  of  its  constituents;  to 
the  attempt  to  place  the  head  of  the  president  on  the  national 
coin;  to  his  morning  levees,  his  opening  speeches,  echoed  by 
each  branch  of  the  legislature,  and  to  the  birth  night  balls,  all 
of  which  they  regarded  as  shadows  in  advance  of  approaching 
royalty. 

If  some  of  these  practices  do  not  seem  to  warrant  the  infer- 
ences drawn  from  them,  yet  we  cannot  admit  that  the  suspi- 
cions they  produced  were  altogether  unfounded,  without  at  the 
same  time  passing  sentence  of  condemnation  on  the  prudence 
of  those  who  thus  excited  republican  jealousy,  quickened  into 
preternatural  activity  as  it  was  at  that  period  by  the  French 
revolution,  for  objects  so  truly  insignificant. 

Mr.  Jefferson,  as  we  have  seen,  had  long  ago  intimated  to 
the  president  his  intention  of  retiring  from  office,  and  many  cir- 
cumstances had  of  late  contributed  to  confirm  him  in  his  pur- 
pose. The  frequent  collisions  with  the  Secretary  of  the  Trea- 
sury, which  he  could  not  avoid  without  a  surrender  of  his  princi- 
ples, were  painful  to  one  of  his  temper.  He  saw  too,  that  the 
president,  as  the  two  great  parties  became  more  widely  sepa- 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  407 

rated,  inclined  more  to  the  politics  of  his  adversary;  and  he 
keenly  felt  the  vituperation  of  the  federal  prints. 

The  effect  of  these  annoying  circumstances  was  further  aided 
by  the  unalloyed  pleasures  he  promised  himself  in  the  society  of 
his  children  and  grandchildren,  and  in  making  improvements  at 
Monticello.  He  had,  therefore,  as  far  back  as  September,  been 
decided  on  retiring  at  the  end  of  the  approaching  session  of 
Congress.  But  his  party  friends  strenuously  opposed  this  step, 
and  he  finally  yielded  to  their  wishes.  With  what  feelings  he 
did  so,  may  be  gathered  from  the  following  extract  of  a  letter 
from  him  to  his  daughter  Mrs.  Randolph,  dated  Jan.  26,  1793. 

"I  have  for  some  time  past  been  under  an  agitation  of  mind, 
which  I  scarcely  ever  experienced  before,  produced  by  a  check 
in  my  purpose  of  returning  home  at  the  close  of  the  session  in 
Congress.  My  operations  at  Monticello  had  also  been  made  to 
bear  upon  that  point  of  time.  My  mind  was  fixed  on  it  with  a 
fondness  which  was  extreme;  the  purpose  firmly  declared  to 
the  president,  when  I  became  assailed  from  all  quarters  with  a 
variety  of  objections.  Among  these,  it  was  urged  that  my  retire- 
ment, when  I  had  been  attacked  in  the  public  papers,  would 
injure  me  in  the  eyes  of  the  public,  who  would  suppose  I  either 
withdrew  from  investigation,  or  because  I  had  not  tone  of  mind 
sufficient  to  meet  slander.  The  only  reward  I  ever  wished  on 
my  retirement  was,  to  carry  with  me  nothing  like  disapproba- 
tion of  the  public.  These  representations  have,  for  some  time 
past,  shaken  a  determination  which  I  had  thought  the  whole 
world  could  not  have  shaken.  I  have  not  yet  finally  made  up 
my  mind  on  the  subject,  nor  changed  my  declaration  to  the 
president,  but  having  perfect  reliance  on  the  disinterested 
friendship  of  some  of  those  who  have  counselled  and  urged  it 
strongly,  believing  that  they  can  see  and  judge  better  a  ques- 
tion between  the  public  and  myself,  than  I  can,  I  feel  a  pos- 
sibility that  I  may  be  detained  here  into  the  summer." 

In  February,  1793,  Mr.  Jefferson  held  a  long  conversation 
with  the  president  on  the  subject  of  his  retirement  from  the 
office  of  Secretary  of  State,  either  in  the  summer  or  autumn  of 
the  present  year,  when  he  told  the  president,  that  as  the  bill  for 


408  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

foreign  intercourse  would  probably  be  rejected,  and  he  should 
consequently  be  relieved  from  the  embarrassments  it  was  likely 
to  cause  him,  he  had  no  objection  to  continue  in  the  office  a 
while  longer,  provided  no  other  arrangements  had  been  already 
made. 

The  president  replied,  that  so  far  from  having  made  any,  he 
had  not  even  mentioned  the  subject  to  any  one,  until  a  few  days 
before,  when,  having  heard  that  Mr.  Jefferson  had  given  up 
his  house  in  Philadelphia,  he  had  spoken  of  it  to  Mr.  Randolph. 
He  expressed  his  satisfaction  at  this  change  of  purpose,  and  his 
apprehensions  that  Mr.  Jefferson's  retirement  would  prove  a 
new  source  of  uneasiness  with  the  public.  He  added,  that  he 
had  that  day  learnt  from  General  Lee  of  the  discontent  pre- 
vailing in  Virginia,  of  which  he  previously  had  no  conception: 
and  he  expressed  his  wish,  that  Hamilton  and  he  could  coalesce 
in  the  measures  of  the  government.  That  he  had  mentioned 
the  same  thing  to  Hamilton,  who  readily  acceded  to  it,  and 
thought  such  a  coalition  would  meet  the  public  approbation. 

Mr.  Jefferson  rejoined,  that  his  concurrence  was  less  important 
than  the  president  imagined;  "that  he  kept  himself  aloof  from 
all  cabals  and  correspondence  on  the  subject  of  the  govern- 
ment;" that  as  to  a  coalition,  if  by  that,  it  was  meant  that 
either  was  to  sacrifice  his  opinions,  it  was  impossible.  They 
had  both,  no  doubt,  formed  their  conclusions  after  mature  con- 
sideration; and  principles,  thus  adopted,  could  not  be  given  up. 
His  wish  was  "to  see  both  Houses  of  Congress  cleansed  of  all 
persons  interested  in  the  bank  or  public  stocks;"  and  that  a  pure 
legislature  being  obtained,  he  should  always  be  ready  to  acqui- 
esce in  their  determinations,  even  if  contrary  to  his  own 
opinions;  for  that  he  subscribed  to  the  principle,  'that  the  will 
of  the  majority,  honestly  expressed,  should  give  law.'  He  im- 
puted the  discontents  in  the  South  to  the  belief  that  their  inte- 
rests were  sacrificed  to  those  of  the  Eastern  states,  by  reason  of 
a  corrupt  squadron  of  voters  at  the  command  of  the  treasury, 
whereby  measures  were  carried  which  would  have  been  other- 
wise rejected,  of  which  an  instance  was  furnished  by  the  late 
assumption  bill,  that  had  been  carried  by  the  speaker's  vote. 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  409 

"The  president  then  spoke  of  his  remaining  in  office  another 
term;  he  expressed  the  wretchedness  of  his  existence  while  in 
office;  dwelt  on  the  late  attacks  on  him  for  levees,  &c.;  explain- 
ed how  he  had  been  led  into  them  by  the  persons  he  consulted 
at  New  York;  and  that  if  he  could  but  know  what  the  sense  of 
the  public  was,  he  would  most  cheerfully  conform  to  it." 

It  appears  from  an  anecdote  which  Mr.  Jefferson  relates  on 
the  authority  of  Tobias  Lear,  the  president's  secretary,  that 
General  Washington  had  yielded  a  slow  assent  to  the  introduc- 
tion of  levees,  and  that  it  was  finally  left  to  Colonel  Humphreys 
and  others  to  settle  the  forms.  "Accordingly,  an  antichamber 
and  presence-room  were  provided,  and  when  those  who  were  to 
pay  their  court  were  assembled,  the  president  set  out  preceded 
by  Humphreys.  After  passing  through  the  antichamber,  the 
door  of  the  inner  room  was  thrown  open,  and  Humphreys  en- 
tered first,  calling  out  with  a  loud  voice,  'The  President  of  the 
United  States.'  The  president  was  so  much  disconcerted  by 
this  silly  parade,  that  he  did  not  recover  himself  the  whole  time 
of  the  levee;  and  when  the  company  was  gone,  he  said  to  Hum- 
phreys, well,  you  have  taken  me  in  once,  but  by  G —  you  shall 
never  take  me  in  a  second  time." 

In  a  cabinet  consultation  on  the  25th,  concerning  a  treaty 
with  the  Indians,  when  the  right  of  the  United  States  to  cede  any 
territory  which  they  had  previously  acquired  to  the  Indians  was 
discussed,  Mr.  Jefferson  considered  that  our  "right  of  pre-emption 
to  the  Indian  lands  did  not  amount  to  dominion  or  jurisdiction,  but 
was  merely  in  the  nature  of  a  remainder,  after  the  extinguish- 
ment of  a  present  right,  which  gave  us  no  present  right  what- 
ever, except  that  of  preventing  other  nations  from  taking  pos- 
session and  so  defeating  our  expectancy;"  that  the  Indians  had 
the  full,  undivided,  and  independent  sovereignty  as  long  as  they 
chose  to  keep  it,  and  this  might  be  for  ever;  that  as  fast  as  we 
extend  our  rights  by  purchase  from  them,  so  fast  we  extend  the 
limits  of  our  society;  that  the  executive  with  either  or  both 
branches  of  the  legislature,  could  not  alien  any  part  of  our 
territory;  that  by  the  law  of  nations  it  was  settled,  that  the 
amity  and  indivisibility  of  the  society  was  so  fundamental,  that 

VOL.  I.— 52 


410  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

it  could  not  be  dismembered  by  the  constituted  authorities,  ex- 
cept where  their  power  was  despotic,  or  was  expressly  delegat- 
ed, and  as  our  government  had  no  claim  on  either  of  these 
grounds,  it  could  not  alienate  any  portion  of  territory  once  con- 
solidated with  us.  But  that  as  we  had  a  right  to  sell  and  settle 
lands  once  comprehended  within  our  lines,  so  we  might  forbear 
to  exercise  this  right,  until  some  future  day;  and  this  he  was 
willing  to  do  on  the  present  occasion. 

Hamilton  and  Randolph  thought  that  we  might  cede  to  In- 
dians though  not  toothers,  because  the  cession  only  restored  the 
land  to  those  from  whom  we  bought  it. 


411 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

Questions  arising  on  the  War  between  France  and  England,  Views 
of  the  Cabinet.  Mr.  Jefferson's  argument  that  the  United  States 
were  not  absolved  from  their  treaties  with  France  by  its  Revolution — 
it  prevails  with  the  President.  His  letters  to  Mr.  Madison  and  Mr. 
Monroe  on  the  neutrality  of  the  United  States.  Arrival  of  Citizen 
Genet,  the  French  Minister— his  reception.  Rights  of  France  under 
the  Treaty  of  Commerce.  Mr.  Jefferson's  correspondence  with  the 
French  Minister.  Genet's  intemperate  and  offensive  course— his 
recall — the  popular  feeling  in  his  favour. 

1793. 

THE  3d  of  March,  1793,  completed  the  constitutional  term 
of  the  second  Congress,  as  well  as  closed  its  session;  and,  on  the 
following  day,  General  Washington  entered  on  his  second  presi- 
dential term,  to  which  he  was  again  elected  by  an  unanimous 
vote.  Mr.  Adams  having  the  next  highest  number  of  votes,  was 
elected  vice-president;  but  the  states  of  New  York,  Virginia, 
North  Carolina,  and  Georgia  gave  their  votes  to  Mr.  Clinton  of 
New  York.  Mr.  Jefferson  received  the  four  votes  of  Kentucky; 
and  without  doubt  he  would  have  received  those  of  Virginia,  if 
her  electors  had  been  permitted  by  the  constitution  to  vote  for 
two  of  her  citizens,  as  president  and  vice-president. 

Early  in  April,  the  executive  received  the  intelligence  that 
France  had  declared  war  against  England,  and  the  president, 
who  was  then  at  Mount  Vernon,  hastened  his  return  to  Phila- 
delphia, and  the  day  after  he  arrived  there,  he  submitted  to 
each  member  of  his  cabinet  a  series  of  propositions  in  writing, 
respecting  the  course  it  would  be  proper  for  the  United  States 


412  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

to  pursue  towards  the  belligerents,  of  which  he  requested  their 
consideration,  preparatory  to  a  cabinet  consultation  the  next 
day. 

The  questions  thus  propounded  were  in  substance,  whether 
a  proclamation  should  issue  for  the  purpose  of  preventing  Ame- 
rican citizens  taking  sides  with  the  belligerents.  Should  it  con- 
tain a  declaration  of  neutrality?  Should  a  minister  from  the 
French  republic  be  received,  and  if  so,  absolutely,  or  with 
qualifications?  Were  the  former  treaties  with  France  still  bind- 
ing on  the  United  States,  or  might  they  be  suspended?  Would 
it  be  a  breach  of  neutrality  to  consider  these  treaties  still  in 
operation?  Is  the  guarantee  in  the  treaty  of  alliance,  applica- 
ble to  an  offensive,  as  well  as  a  defensive  war?  What  is  the 
effect  of  such  guarantee?  Do  the  treaties  prevent  the  ships  of 
war  of  the  enemies  of  France  from  coming  into  the  ports  of  the 
United  States  for  the  purpose  of  convoy,  or  impose  greater  re- 
straints upon  them  than  upon  French  ships  of  war?  Should 
the  future  regent  of  France  send  a  minister,  ought  he  to  be  re- 
ceived? Ought  Congress  to  be  called? 

On  the  following  day,  the  19th,  these  questions  were  fully 
discussed  in  the  cabinet;  and  while,  as  to  a  part  of  them,  there 
was  entire  unanimity,  on  the  others  the  members  were  utterly 
at  variance;  and  their  several  opinions  but  too  plainly  took 
their  hue  from  the  parties  to  which  the  members  respectively 
belonged.  All  the  cabinet  agreed  that  a  proclamation,  enjoin- 
ing on  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  the  duties  of  neutrality, 
should  be  issued  by  the  president;  that  a  minister  from  France 
should  be  received,  and  that  the  occasion  did  not  require  an 
extraordinary  meeting  of  Congress.  They  differed,  however, 
as  to  the  manner  in  which  the  minister  should  be  received;  Mr. 
Jefferson,  and  Mr.  Randolph  the  Attorney-General,  thought 
that  the  relations  between  the  two  nations  were  unchanged 
by  the  revolution;  while  Colonel  Hamilton  and  General  Knox 
maintained  that  a  nation  had  no  right,  by  changing  its  political 
institutions,  to  involve  other  nations  unconditionally  in  the 
consequences  of  those  changes;  and  that,  therefore,  the  minister 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  413 

ought  to  be  received  with  qualifications.*  They  further  denied 
that  the  revolution  could  he  regarded  as  the  unequivocal  act  of 
the  nation,  and  referred  to  the  enormities  perpetrated  at  Paris 
as  evidence  that  it  was  the  act  of  a  faction,  which  might  be  as 
speedily  destroyed  as  it  had  been  created.  They  regarded  the 
guarantee  of  the  French  West  Indies,  as  pregnant  with  serious 
danger  to  the  United  States;  and,  therefore,  thought  we  should 
reserve  for  future  decision,  whether  those  treaties  ought  not  to 
be  suspended.  They  also  considered  that  the  treaty  of  alliance 
being  defensive,  the  guarantee  did  not  apply  to  a  war  in  which 
France  was  the  aggressor. 

On  the  main  question — whether  the  treaties  with  France 
were  now  binding  on  the  United  States,  the  members  of  the 
cabinet,  by  the  request  of  the  president,  defended  their  respec- 
tive opinions  in  writing;  and  as  the  paper  drawn  by  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son is  not  only  a  most  able  vindication  of  the  soundness  of  his 
views,  both  as  a  jurist  and  a  statesman,  but  also  discloses  in  sub- 
stance the  reasoning  of  his  rival,  it  is  here  given  at  length,  with 
the  exception  of  his  references  to  writers  on  national  law. 

Opinion  of  Thomas  Jefferson  on  a  question  submitted  by  the  Presi- 
dent to  his  Cabinet  on  the  19th  of  April,  1793. 

"I  proceed,  in  compliance  with  the  requisition  of  the  presi- 
dent, to  give  an  opinion  in  writing  on  the  general  question — 
'whether  the  United  States  have  a  right  to  renounce  their  trea- 
ties with  France,  or  to  hold  them  suspended  till  the  government 
of  that  country  shall  be  established?' 

"In  the  consultation  at  the  president's,  on  the  19th  inst.,  the 

*  It  appears  from  a  letter  written  by  Colonel  Hamilton  to  Mr.  Jay,  on  the 
9th  of  April,  1793,  that  he  then  doubted  whether  a  minister  ought  to  be 
received  at  all.  "When  we  last  conversed  together  on  the  subject,"  he 
says,  "we  were  both  of  opinion  that  the  minister  expected  from  France 
should  be  received.  Subsequent  circumstances  have,  perhaps,  induced 
an  additional  embarrassment  on  this  point,  and  render  it  advisable  to 
reconsider  the  opinion  generally,  and  to  raise  this  further  question — 
'whether  he  ought  to  be  received  absolutely,  or  with  qualifications?' " 
He  goes  on  to  argue  these  questions,  without  coming  to  a  decision 
whether  a  minister  should  be  received  or  not.— Jay's  Life,  I.  298. 


414  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON". 

Secretary  of  the  Treasury  took  the  following  positions  and  con- 
sequences. 'France  was  a  monarchy  when  we  entered  into 
treaties  with  it;  but  it  has  now  declared  itself  a  republic,  and 
is  preparing  a  republican  form  of  government.  As  it  may  issue 
in  a  republic  or  a  military  despotism,  or  in  something  else  which 
may  possibly  render  our  alliance  with  it  dangerous  to  ourselves, 
we  have  a  right  of  election  to  renounce  the  treaty  altogether, 
or  to  declare  it  suspended  till  their  government  shall  be  settled 
in  the  form  it  is  ultimately  to  take;  and  then  we  may  judge 
whether  we  will  call  the  treaties  into  operation  again,  or  declare 
them  for  ever  null.  Having  that  right  of  election  now,  if  we 
receive  their  minister  without  any  qualifications,  it  will  amount 
to  an  act  of  election  to  continue  the  treaties;  and  if  the  change 
they  are  undergoing  should  issue  in  a  form  which  should  bring 
danger  on  us,  we  shall  not  be  free  to  renounce  them.  To  elect 
to  continue  them  is  equivalent  to  the  making  a  new  treaty  at 
this  time  in  the  same  form,  that  is  to  say,  with  a  clause  of  gua- 
rantee; but  to  make  a  treaty  with  a  clause  of  guarantee,  during 
a  war,  is  a  departure  from  neutrality,  and  would  make  us  asso- 
ciates in  the  war.  To  renounce  or  suspend  the  treaties,  there- 
fore, is  a  necessary  act  of  neutrality.' 

"If  I  do  not  subscribe  to  the  soundness  of  this  reasoning,  I  do 
most  fully  to  its  ingenuity.  I  shall  now  lay  down  the  principles 
which,  according  to  my  understanding,  govern  the  case. 

"I  consider  the  people  who  constitute  a  society  or  nation,  as 
the  source  of  all  authority  in  that  nation,  as  free  to  transact 
their  common  concerns  by  any  agents  they  think  proper,  to' 
change  these  agents  individually,  or  the  organization  of  them  in 
form  or  function,  whenever  they  please;  that  all  the  acts  done 
by  those  agents  under  the  authority  of  the  nation,  are  the  acts 
of  the  nation,  are  obligatory  on  them,  and  enure  to  their  use, 
and  can  in  no  wise  be  annulled  or  affected  by  any  change  in 
the  form  of  the  government,  or  of  the  persons  administering  it. 
Consequently,  the  treaties  between  the  United  States  and  France 
were  not  treaties  between  the  United  States  and  Louis  Capet, 
but  between  the  two  nations  of  America  and  France;  and  the 
nations  remaining  in  existence,  though  both  of  them  have  since 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  415 

changed  their  forms  of  government,  the  treaties  are  not  annull- 
ed by  these  changes. 

"The  law  of  nations,  hy  which  this  question  is  to  be  deter- 
mined, is  composed  of  three  branches — 1.  The  moral  law  of  our 
nature.  2.  The  usages  of  nations.  3.  Their  special  conventions. 
The  first  of  these  only  concerns  this  question,  that  is  to  say,  the 
moral  law  to  which  man  has  been  subjected  by  his  Creator,  and 
of  which  his  feelings,  or  conscience,  as  it  is  sometimes  called,  are 
the  evidence  with  which  his  Creator  has  furnished  him.  The 
moral  duties  which  exist  between  individual  and  individual,  in 
a  state  of  nature,  accompany  them  into  a  state  of  society,  and 
the  aggregate  of  the  duties  of  all  the  individuals  composing  the 
society  constitutes  the  duties  of  that  society  towards  any  other; 
so  that  between  society  and  society  the  same  moral  duties  exist 
as  did  between  the  individuals  composing  them  while  in  an  un- 
associated  state;  their  Maker  not  having  released  them  from 
those  duties,  on  their  forming  themselves  into  a  nation.  Com- 
pacts between  nation  and  nation  are  obligatory  on  them  by  the 
same  moral  law  which  obliges  individuals  to  observe  their  com- 
pacts. 

There  are  circumstances,  however,  which  sometimes  excuse 
the  non-performance  of  contracts  be.tvveen  man  and  man:  so  are 
there  also  between  nation  and  nation.  When  performance,  for 
instance,  becomes  impossible,  non-performance  is  not  immoral. 
So  if  performance  becomes  self-destructive  to  the  party,  the  law 
of  self-preservation  overrules  the  laws  of  obligation  to  others. 
For  the  reality  of  these  principles  I  appeal  to  the  fountains  of 
evidence,  the  head  and  heart  of  every  rational  and  honest  man. 
It  is  there  nature  has  written  her  moral  laws,  and  there  every 
man  may  read  them  for  himself.  He  will  never  read  there  the 
permission  to  annul  his  obligations  for  a  time,  or  for  ever,  when- 
ever they  become  dangerous,  useless,  or  disagreeable.  Certainly 
not,  when  merely  useless  or  disagreeable,  as  seems  to  be  said  in 
an  authority  which  has  been  quoted.  Valtel,  II.  197.  And  though 
he  may,  under  certain  degrees  of  danger,  yet  the  danger  must 
be  imminent,  and  the  degree  great.  Of  these  it  is  true  that  na- 
tions are  to  be  judges  for  themselves,  since  no  one  nation  has  a 


416  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

right  to  sit  in  judgment  over  another.  But  the  tribunal  of  our 
consciences  remains,  and  that  also  of  the  opinion  of  the  world. 
These  will  revise  the  sentence  we  pass  in  our  own  case,  and  as 
we  respect  these,  we  must  see  that,  in  judging  ourselves,  we 
have  honestly  done  the  part  of  impartial  and  rigorous  judges. 

"But  reason,  which  gives  this  right  of  self-liberation  from  a 
contract  in  certain  cases,  has  subjected  it  to  certain  just  limita- 
tions. 

"I.  The  danger  which  absolves  us  must  be  great,  inevitable, 
and  imminent.  Is  such  the  character  of  that  now  apprehended 
from  our  treaties  with  France?  What  is  .that  danger?  1.  Is  it 
that  if  their  government  issues  in  a  military  despotism,  an  alli- 
ance with  them  may  taint  us  with  despotic  principles?  But  their 
government,  when  we  allied  ourselves  to  it,  was  a  perfect  despot- 
ism, civil  and  military.  Yet  the  treaties  were  made  in  that  very 
state  of  things,  and  therefore  that  danger  can  furnish  no  just 
cause.  2.  Is  it  that  their  government  may  issue  in  a  republic,  and 
too  much  strengthen  our  republican  principles?  But  this  is  the 
hope  of  a  great  mass  of  our  constituents,  and  not  their  dread. 
They  do  not  look  with  longing  to  the  happy  mean  of  a  limited 
monarchy.  3.  But,  says  the  doctrine  I  am  combating,  the 
change  the  French  are  undergoing  may  possibly  end  in  some- 
thing we  know  not  what,  and  bring  on  us  danger  we  know  not 
whence — in  short,  it  may  end  in  a  raw-head  and  bloody-bones  in 
the  dark.  Very  well.  Let  the  raw-head  and  bloody-bones 
come;  then  we  shall  be  justified  in  making  our  peace  with  him, 
by  renouncing  our  ancient  friends  and  his  enemies.  For  observe, 
it  is  not  the  possibility  of  danger,  which  absolves  a  party  from 
his  contract;  for  that  possibility  always  exists,  and  in  every  case. 
It  existed  in  the  present  one,  at  the  moment  of  making  the  con- 
tract. If  possibilities  would  avoid  contracts,  there  never  would 
be  a  valid  contract:  for  possibilities  hang  over  every  thing.  Ob- 
ligation is  not  suspended  till  the  danger  is  become  real,  and 
the  moment  of  it  so  imminent,  that  we  can  no  longer  avoid  de- 
cision without  for  ever  losing  the  opportunity  to  do  it.  But  can 
a  danger  which  has  not  yet  taken  its  shape,  which  does  not  yet 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  417 

exist,  and  never  may  exist,  which  cannot  therefore  be  denned — 
can  such  a  danger,  I  ask,  be  so  imminent  that,  if  we  fail  to 
pronounce  on  it  in  this  moment,  we  can  never  have  an  oppor- 
tunity of  doing  it? 

"4.  The  danger  apprehended — is  it  that,  the  treaties  remaining 
valid,  the  clause  guaranteeing  their  West  India  islands  will  en- 
gage us  in  the  war?  But  does  the  guarantee  engage  us  to  enter 
into  the  war  in  any  event?  Are  we  to  enter  into  it  before  we 
are  called  on  by  our  allies?  Have  we  been  called  on  by  them? 
Can  they  call  on  us  before  their  islands  are  invaded,  or  immi- 
nently threatened?  If  they  can  save  themselves,  have  they 
any  right  to  call  on  us?  Are  we  obliged  to  go  to  war  at  once, 
without  trying  peaceable  negotiations  with  their  enemy?  If  all 
these  questions  be  against  us,  there  are  still  others  behind.  Are 
we  in  a  condition  to  go  to  war?  Can  we  be  expected  before  we 
are  in  condition?  Will  the  islands  be  lost  if  we  do  not  save 
them?  Have  we  the  means  of  saving  them?  If  we  cannot  save 
them,  are  we  bound  to  go  to  war  for  a  desperate  object?  Many, 
if  not  most  of  these  questions  offer  grounds  of  doubt,  whether 
the  clause  of  guarantee  will  draw  us  into  the  war.  Consequent- 
ly, if  this  be  the  danger  apprehended,  it  is  not  yet  certain 
enough  to  authorize  us  in  sound  morality  to  declare,  at  this 
moment,  the  treaties  null. 

"5.  Is  the  danger  apprehended  from  the  17th  article  of  the 
treaty  of  commerce,  which  admits  French  ships  of  war  and 
privateers  to  come  and  go  freely  with  prizes  made  on  their 
enemies,  while  their  enemies  are  not  to  have  the  same  privilege 
with  prizes  made  on  the  French?  But  Holland  and  Prussia 
have  approved  of  this  article  of  our  treaty  with  France,  by  sub- 
scribing to  an  express  salvo  of  it  in  our  treaties  with  them,  [viz. 
Dutch  treaty,  vi.  Convention,  art.  v.  Prussian  treaty,  xix.]  And 
England,  in  her  last  treaty  with  France,  (art.  40,)  has  entered  into 
the  same  stipulations  verbatim,  and  placed  us  in  her  ports  on  the 
same  footing  in  which  she  is  in  ours,  in  case  of  a  war  of  either 
of  us  with  France.  If  we  are  engaged  in  such  a  war,  England 
must  receive  prizes  made  on  us  by  the  French,  and  exclude 
those  made  on  the  French  by  us.  Nay,  further,  in  this  very 

VOL.  I.— 53 


418  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

article  of  her  treaty  with  France,  is  a  salvo  of  any  similar 
article  in  any  anterior  treaty  of  either  party;  and  ours  with 
France  being  anterior,  this  salvo  confirms  it  expressly.  Neither 
of  those  three  powers  then  have  a  right  to  complain  of  this 
article  in  our  treaty. 

"6.  Is  the  danger  apprehended  from  the  22nd  article  of  our 
treaty  of  commerce,  which  prohibits  the  enemies  of  France  from 
fitting  out  privateers  in  our  ports,  or  selling  their  prizes  here? 
But  we  are  free  to  refuse  the  same  thing  to  France,  there  being 
nostipulation  to  the  contrary,  and  we  ought  to  refuse  it  on  princi- 
ples of  fair  neutrality. 

"7.  But  the  reception  of  a  minister  from  the  republic  of 
France,  without  qualifications,  it  is  thought,  will  bring  us  into 
danger;  because  this,  it  is  said,  will  determine  the  continuance 
of  the  treaty,  and  take  from  us  the  right  of  self-liberation,  when 
at  any  time  hereafter  our  safety  would  require  us  to  use  it. 
The  reception  of  a  minister  at  all,  (in  favour  of  which  Colonel 
Hamilton  has  given  his  opinion,  though  reluctantly,  as  he  con- 
fessed,) is  an  acknowledgment  of  the  legitimacy  of  their  govern- 
ment: and  if  the  qualifications  meditated  are  to  deny  that  legiti- 
macy, it  will  be  a  curious  compound  which  is  to  admit  and 
deny  the  same  thing.  But  I  deny  that  reception  of  a  minister 
has  any  thing  to  do  with  the  treaties.  There  is  not  a  word,  in 
cither  of  them,  about  sending  ministers.  This  has  been  done 
between  us,  under  the  common  usage  of  nations,  and  can  have 
no  effect  either  to  continue  or  annul  the  treaties. 

"But  how  can  any  act  of  election  have  the  effect  to  con- 
tinue the  treaty  which  is  acknowledged  to  be  going  on  still?  for 
it  was  not  pretended  the  treaty  was  void,  but  only  voidable,  if 
we  chose  to  consider  it  so.  To  make  it  void  would  require  an 
act  of  election;  but  to  let  it  go  on  requires  only  that  we  should 
do  nothing,  and  doing  nothing  can  hardly  be  an  infraction  of 
peace  or  neutrality, 

"But  I  go  further,  and  deny  that  the  most  explicit  declaration, 
made  at  this  moment,  that  we  acknowledge  the  obligation  of 
the  treaties,  could  take  from  us  the  right  of  non-compliance  at 
any  future  time,  when  compliance  would  involve  us  in  great  j 
and  inevitable  danger. 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  419 

"I  conclude,  then,  that  few  of  those  sources  threaten  any  dan- 
ger at  all;  and  from  none  of  them  is  it  inevitable;  and,  conse- 
quently, none  of  them  give  us  the  right,  at  this  moment,  of  re- 
leasing ourselves  from  our  treaties. 

"II.  A  second  limitation  on  our  right  of  releasing  ourselves  is, 
that  we  are  to  do  it  from  so  much  of  the  treaties  only  as  is  bring- 
ing great  and  inevitable  danger  on  us,  and  not  from  the  residue, 
allowing  to  the  other  party  a  right  at  the  same  time  to  deter- 
mine whether,  on  our  non-compliance  with  that  part,  they  will 
declare  the  whole  void.  This  right  they  would  have,  but  we 
should  not.  Vattel,  II.  202.  The  only  part  of  the  treaty  which 
can  lead  us  into  danger  is  the  clause  of  guarantee.  That  clause 
is  all  then  we  could  suspend  in  any  case,  and  the  residue  will 
remain  or  not,  at  the  will  of  the  other  party. 

"III.  A  third  limitation  is,  that  where  a  party,  from  necessity  or 
danger,  withholds  compliance  with  any  part  of  a  treaty,  it  is 
bound  to  make  compensation,  where  the  nature  of  the  case  ad- 
mits, and  does  not  dispense  with  it.  Vattel,  II.  324.  Wolf,  270. 
443.  If  actual  circumstances  excuse  us  from  entering  into  the 
war,  under  the  clause  of  guarantee,  it  will  be  a  question  whe- 
ther they  excuse  us  from  compensation.  Our  weight  in  the 
war  admits  of  an  estimate,  and  that  estimate  would  form  the 
measure  of  compensation. 

"If  in  withholding  a  compliance  with  any  part  of  the  treaties, 
we  do  it  without  just  cause  or  compensation,  we  give  to  France 
a  cause  of  war,  and  so  become  associated  in  it  on  the  other  side. 
An  injured  friend  is  the  bitterest  of  foes,  and  France  has  not 
discovered  either  timidity,  or  overmuch  forbearance  on  the  late 
occasions.  Is  this  the  position  we  wish  to  take  for  our  con- 
stituents? Is  it  certainly  not  the  one  they  would  take  for  them- 
selves'?" 

[Mr.  Jefferson  next  proceeds  to  show  that  the  passage  of  Val- 
tel,  that  when  one  of  the  parties  to  a  treaty  of  alliance  changes 
its  form  of  government  in  such  a  manner  as  to  'render  the  alli- 
ance useless,  dangerous,  or  disagreeable  to  the  other,  it  is  free  to 
renounce  the  alliance,'  which  had  been  relied  on  as  authority 
for  the  doctrine  he  was  combating,  is  not  sustained  by  the  other 


420  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

principal  writers  on  the  law  of  nature  and  nations,  (Grotius, 
Puffendorf,  and  Wolf,)  and  is  not  consistent  either  with  reason, 
with  the  general  tenor  of  his  work,  or  with  his  expressed  opi- 
nions on  other  occasions;  and  having  shown  the  discrepancy  by 
a  minute  comparison  of  Vattel  with  the  other  authorities,  and 
with  himself,  he  goes  on  to  say: — ] 

"After  evidence  so  copious  and  explicit  of  the  respect  of 
this  author  for  the  sanctity  of  treaties,  we  should  hardly  have 
expected  that  his  authority  would  have  been  resorted  to  for  a 
wanton  invalidation  of  them,  whenever  they  should  become 
merely  useless  or  disagreeable.  We  should  hardly  have  ex- 
pected that,  rejecting  all  the  rest  of  his  book,  this  scrap  would 
have  been  called,  and  made  the  hook  whereon  to  hang  such  a 
chain  of  immoral  consequences.  Had  the  passage  accidentally 
met  our  eye,  we  should  have  imagined  it  had  fallen  from  the 
author's  pen  under  some  momentary  view,  not  sufficiently  de- 
veloped to  found  a  conjecture  what  he  meant;  and  we  may 
certainly  affirm  that  a  fragment  like  this  cannot  weigh  against 
the  authority  of  all  other  writers,  against  the  uniform  and  sys- 
tematic doctrine  of  the  very  work  from  which  it  is  torn,  against 
the  moral  feelings  and  the  reason  of  all  honest  men.  If  the 
terms  of  the  fragment  are  not  misunderstood,  they  are  in  full 
contradiction  to  all  the  written  and  unwritten  evidences  of  mo- 
rality: if  they  are  misunderstood,  they  are  no  longer  a  founda- 
tion for  the  doctrines  which  have  been  built  on  them. 

"But  even  had  this  doctrine  been  as  true  as  it  is  manifestly 
false,  it  would  have  been  asked,  to  whom  is  it  that  the  treaties 
with  France  have  been  disagreeable'?  How  will  it  be  proved 
that  they  are  useless? 

"The  conclusion  of  the  sentence,  [from  Vattel,  II.  197,]  sug- 
gests a  reflection  too  strong  to  be  suppressed:  'for  the  party  may 
say  with  truth,  that  it  would  not  have  allied  itself  with  this  na- 
tion, if  it  had  been  under  the  present  form  of  its  government.' 
The  republic  of  the  United  States  allied  itself  with  France  when 
under  a  despotic  government.  She  changes  her  government, 
declares  it  shall  be  a  republic,  prepares  a  form  of  republic  ex- 
tremely free,  and,  in  the  meantime,  is  governing  herself  as  such. 
And  it  is  proposed  that  America  shall  declare  the  treaties  void, 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  421 

because  'it  may  say  with  truth  that  it  would  not  have  allied 
itself  with  that  nation,  if  it  had  been  under  the  present  form  of 
its  government!'  Who  is  the  American,  who  can  say  with  truth, 
that  he  would  not  have  allied  himself  with  France  if  she  had 
been  a  republic,  or  that  a  republic  of  any  form  would  be  as  dis- 
agreeable as  her  ancient  despotism? 

"Upon  the  whole  I  conclude,  that  the  treaties  are  still  bind- 
ing, notwithstanding  the  change  of  government  in  France;  that 
no  part  of  them  but  the  clause  of  guarantee,  holds  out  danger, 
even  at  a  distance;  and  consequently, 

"That  a  liberation  from  no  other  part  could  be  proposed  in 
any  case:  that  if  that  clause  may  ever  bring  danger,  it  is  neither 
extreme,  nor  imminent,  nor  even  probable:  that  the  authority  for 
renouncing  a  treaty,  when  useless  or  disagreeable,  is  either  mis- 
understood, or  in  opposition  to  itself,  to  all  other  writers,  and  to 
every  moral  feeling:  that  were  it  not  so,  these  treaties  are  in 
fact  neither  useless  nor  disagreeable: 

"That  the  receiving  a  minister  from  France  at  this  time  is  an 
act  of  insignificance  with  respect  to  the  treaties,  amounting 
neither  to  an  admission  nor  denial  of  them,  forasmuch  as  he 
comes  not  under  any  stipulation  in  them: 

"That  were  it  an  explicit  admission,  or  were  an  express  de- 
claration of  their  obligation  now  to  be  made,  it  would  not  take 
from  us  that  right  which  exists  at  all  times  of  liberating  our- 
selves when  an  adherence  to  the  treaties  would  be  ruinous  or 
destructive  to  the  society. 

"And  that  the  not  renouncing  the  treaties  now,  is  so  far  from 
being  a  breach  of  neutrality,  that  the  doing  it  would  be  the 
breach,  by  giving  just  cause  of  war  to  France. 

"Tn:  JEFFERSOX. 

"April  28,  1793." 

The  president,  who  continued  to  hold  the  scales  between  his 
rival  secretaries  with  a  steady  and  impartial  hand,  yielded  to 
the  masterly  reasoning  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  decided  that  the 
treaties  with  France  remained  in  full  force,  and  that  the  minis- 
ter from  the  French  republic  should  be  received  without  any 
qualifications. 


422  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

The  papers  drawn  on  this  occasion,  hy  Hamilton  and  Jeffer- 
son respectively,  indicate  the  difference  with  which  the  French 
revolution  began  now  to  be  viewed  by  the  political  parties  of 
the  United  States,  and  had  already  been  viewed  for  some  time 
by  their  leaders.  As  that  mighty  event  involved,  in  its  progress, 
more  important  consequences  to  other  nations,  it  was  the  object 
of  increasing  interest  to  the  citizens  of  the  United  States,  until 
it  eventually  became  the  main  pivot  of  their  civil  dissentions. 
The  cautious,  and  perhaps  necessary  policy  pursued  by  the 
government  towards  the  belligerents  was  not  in  unison  with 
popular  sentiment.  The  good  feeling  which  existed  towards 
the  French  nation,  for  their  important  aid  in  the  American  re- 
volution, would  of  itself  have  created  a  strong  party  in  their 
favour  in  any  contest  in  which  they  had  been  engaged;  but 
when  that  contest  was  a  struggle  for  civil  freedom,  as  ours  had 
been,  and  when  our  example  and  success  had  so  much  agency, 
it  was  believed,  in  bringing  about  the  revolution  in  France,  we 
cannot  wonder  that,  in  the  strong  sympathy  excited  in  their  be- 
half, the  cold  dictates  of  prudence  were  forgotten;  and  that  neu- 
trality and  impartiality  were  regarded  by  many  as  little  better 
than  treason  to  the  cause  of  civil  liberty.  The  proclamation 
was,  therefore,  not  cordially  received  by  the  people,  and  their 
discontents  were  soon  openly  manifested. 

While  Mr.  Jefferson  partook  largely  of  the  popular  sympathy 
for  France,  he  concurred  with  the  rest  of  the  cabinet  in  the 
policy  of  neutrality,  as  appears  by  all  his  letters  to  his  most 
confidential  friends.  The  following  extracts  clearly  show  his 
sentiments  on  both  points. 

Extract  of  a  letter  to  Mr.  Madison,  dated  April  28,  1793. 

"Would  you  suppose  it  possible  that  it  should  have  been 

seriously  proposed  to  declare  our  treaties  with  France  void,  on 
the  authority  of  an  ill-understood  scrap  in  Vattel,  II.  §  197, 
(loutefois  si  c'est,)  and  that  it  should  be  necessary  to  discuss  it? 
....  Cases  are  now  arising  which  will  embarrass  us  a  little  till 
the  line  of  neutrality  be  fairly  understood  by  ourselves,  and  the 
belligerent  parties.  A  French  privateer  is  now  bringing  here,  as 
we  are  told,  prizes,  which  left  this  but  two  or  three  days  before. 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  423 

Shall  we  permit  her  to  sell  them?  The  treaty  does  not  say  we 
shall,  and  it  says  we  shall  not  permit  the  like  to  England.  Shall 
we  permit  France  to  fit  out  privateers  here?  The  treaty  does 
not  stipulate  that  we  shall,  though  it  says  that  we  shall  not  per- 
mit England  to  do  it.  I  fear  that  fair  neutrality  will  prove  a  dis- 
agreeable pill  to  our  friends,  though  necessary  to  keep  us  out  of  the 
calamities  of  war." 

Extract  of  a  letter  to  Mr.  Monroe,  dated  May  5, 1793. 

"The  war  between  France  and  England  seems  to  be  pro- 
ducing an  effect  not  contemplated.  All  the  old  spirit  of  1776  is 
rekindling. '  The  newspapers,  from  Boston  to  Charleston  prove 
this,  and  even  the  monocrat  papers  are  obliged  to  publish  the 
most  furious  philippics  against  England.  A  French  frigate  took 
a  British  prize  off  the  capes  of  Delaware  the  other  day,  and 
sent  her  up  here.  Upon  her  coming  into  sight,  thousands  and 
thousands  of  the  yeomanry  of  the  city  crowded  and  covered  the 
wharves.  Never  before  was  such  a  crowd  seen  there;  and  when 
the  British  colours  were  seen  reversed,  and  the  French  flying 
above  them,  they  burst  into  peals  of  exultation.  I  wish  we  may  be 
able  to  repress  the  spirit  of  the  people  within  the  limits  of  a  fair  neu- 
trality ....  If  we  preserve  even  a  sneaking  neutrality,  we 
shall  be  indebted  for  it  to  the  president,  and  not  to  his  counsel- 
lors." 

In  another  letter  to  Mr.  Madison,  dated  May  13,  1793,  after 
condemning  the  indecision  of  one  of  the  cabinet,  who  was  com- 
monly ranked  with  the  republican  party,  he  remarks,  "If  any 
thing  prevents  its  being  a  mere  English  neutrality,  it  will  be 
that  the  penchant  of  the  president  is  not  that  way,  and  above 
all,  the  ardent  spirit  of  our  constituents." 

It  may  be  here  remarked,  that  not  only  the  preceding  letters, 
but  the  whole  tenor  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  correspondence  shows 
that  he  always  separated  General  Washington  from  the  party 
who  have  sought  to  appropriate  him  to  themselves;  and  that  in 
fact,  he  considered  the  president  as  belonging  to  neither  party, 
though  he  sometimes  gave  his  assent  and  approbation  to  mea- 


424  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

sures  which  Mr.  Jefferson  regarded  as  of  very  injurious  ten- 
dency. 

The  connexion  of  our  party  dissentions  with  the  cause  of 
France,  was  strengthened  and  its  violence  increased  by  the  ar- 
rival of  a  minister  from  that  country,  soon  after  the  proclama- 
tion of  neutrality.  Citizen  Genet,  as  the  envoy  from  the  new  re- 
public was  styled,  landed  at  Charleston  on  the  8th  of  April.  He 
was  most  cordially  received  there,  and  in  every  other  town  in 
his  progress  to  the  seat  of  government.  Writing  and  speaking  the 
English  language  with  great  readiness,  and  an  enthusiast  in  the 
new-born  spirit  of  civil  liberty,  he  was  well  qualified  to  cherish 
and  increase  the  popular  feeling  in  favour  of  France.  But  he 
was  not  content  with  mere  expressions  of  personal  favours  and 
national  sympathy.  He  endeavoured  to  turn  these  sentiments 
to  the  advantage  of  his  country,  and  began  by  encouraging  the 
equipment  of  French  cruizers  in  the  port  of  Charleston,  which 
he  furnished  with  commissions.  He  reached  Philadelphia  about 
the  middle  of  May,  and  he  was  there  met  by  popular  greetings 
not  inferior  to  those  which  had  welcomed  his  arrival  in  Charles- 
ton. Even  before  his  introduction  to  the  president,  he  received 
and  answered  several  addresses  from  the  societies  and  private 
citizens  of  Philadelphia. 

The  privateers  which  Citizen  Genet  had  commissioned,  and 
the  captures  they  had  made,  soon  furnished  ground  for  remon- 
strance to  the  British  minister.  He  also  complained  of  the  cap- 
ture of  the  Grange  by  the  Ambuscade  frigate  within  the  capes 
of  the  Delaware,  and  demanded  a  restitution  of  the  prizes  thus 
illegally  made. 

When  the  cabinet  were  called  upon  to  consult  on  the  course 
to  be  pursued  as  to  these  measures,  there  was  found  to  be  the 
same  contrariety  of  sentiment  as  before;  one  part  taking  sides 
against  France  on  all  doubtful  questions,  and  the  other  inclining 
in  its  favour.  Mr.  Jefferson  and  Mr.  Randolph  maintained  that 
whether  the  captures  were  valid  or  otherwise,  the  property  ought 
not  to  be  restored;  for  if  it  were  contrary  to  law,  the  courts 
being  open  to  the  aggrieved  parties,  the  executive  should  not 
interfere.  But  if  they  were  legally  made;  and  the  only  just 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  425 

cause  of  complaint  consisted  in  their  being  brought  into  the 
United  States,  then  this  was  an  injury  of  which  the  United 
States  were  exclusively  the  judges;  and  if  in  the  exercise  of 
their  discretion,  they  should  decide  on  restoring  the  property, 
that  could  be  done  only  by  way  of  reprisal,  which  being  a  harsh 
and  violent  course,  and  always  deemed  an  act  of  war,  ought 
not  to  be  done  without  a  previous  demand  and  refusal  of  satis- 
faction. They  further  maintained  that  the  disavowal  of  these 
acts  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  and  the  steps  taken  by  the 
government  to  prevent  their  recurrence,  ought  to  exempt  them 
from  all  imputation  of  having  had  any  share  in  the  acts  com- 
plained of,  and  proved  their  disposition  to  adhere  strictly  to  the 
duties  of  neutrality. 

On  the  other  hand,  Colonel  Hamilton  and  General  Knox  in- 
sisted, that  for  a  neutral  nation  to  suffer  itself  to  become  the 
instrument  of  injury  to  one  of  the  belligerents,  is  to  violate  its 
duties  of  neutrality;  and  of  this  character  was  our  permission  to 
French  cruizers  first  to  bring  their  prizes  into  American  ports, 
and  there  to  dispose  of  them.  They  urged  that  although  the 
captures  were  legal,  as  between  the  parties,  they  were  not  so 
as  it  regarded  the  United  States,  who  had  a  right  to  repara- 
tion, and  might  insist  by  virtue  of  this  right  on  the  restitution 
of  the  property.  Nor  could  the  captors  justly  complain  that 
they  were  compelled  to  restore  property,  of  which  they  had  ac- 
quired possession  only  by  violating  the  rights  of  the  United 
States.  They  regarded  the  question  as  one  to  be  settled  by  the 
government  alone,  and  not  by  the  courts,  and  that  the  govern- 
ment had  the  right,  and  was  bound  in  duty  to  itself  and  other 
nations  to  restore  property  captured  under  those  circum- 
stances.* 

On  the  points  on  which  his  cabinet  were  divided,  the  presi- 
dent took  time  to  deliberate;  but  on  those  in  which  they  were 
agreed,  he  requested  Mr.  Jefferson  to  communicate  them  to  the 
minister  of  France  and  Great  Britain.  In  the  discharge  of 
that  duty,  Mr.  Jefferson  was  involved  in  a  long  correspondence 

*  Marshall's  Washington,  vol.  v.  chap.  6. 
VOL.  I.— 54 


426  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

with  the  French  minister,  in  which  he  asserted  the  rights  of 
his  country  with  a  degree  of  ability,  and  in  a  tone  of  modera- 
tion, dignity,  and  firmness  which  won  for  him  the  approbation 
of  all  parties. 

Although  the  intense  interest  which  this  correspondence  once 
excited,  has  long  since  passed  away,  an  abstract  of  it  may  be  of 
use  not  only  to  show  something  of  the  spirit  of  the  times,  but 
also  to  afford  a  lesson  of  an  evil  to  which  popular  governments 
are  peculiarly  exposed.  For  in  the  greater  violence  of  their 
civil  dissentions,  if  one  of  their  great  parties  are  led  either  by 
national  sympathy,  or  by  their  opposition  to  a  rival  party,  to 
become  the  advocates  or  apologists  of  a  foreign  nation,  in  its 
controversies  with  their  own  government,  the  latter  is  sure  to 
be  injured  in  its  rights,  or  dignity,  and  commonly  in  both;  and 
although  after  a  temporary  endurance,  they  were  both  well 
maintained  on  the  present  occasion,  yet  it  must  be  considered  as 
partly  owing  to  the  exceeding  indiscretion  of  Mr.  Genet,  that 
the  popular  feeling  in  favour  of  France  had  not  greatly  embar- 
rassed the  United  States,  and  eventually  compelled  them  to  ex- 
change a  safe  and  profitable  neutrality  for  a  most  expensive  and 
injurious  war. 

In  communicating  to  Mr.  Ternant,  the  predecessor  of  Mr. 
Genet,  the  course  which  the  American  government  had  pre- 
scribed for  itself,  Mr.  Jefferson  informed  him  of  the  specific 
grounds  of  complaint  which  had  been  urged  by  the  British  mi- 
nister. There  were — 1.  That  a  French  agent  in  the  United 
States  was  at  that  time  buying  up  arms  with  the  intention  of 
exporting  them  to  France.  2.  That  the  French  consul  at 
Charleston  had  condemned  a  British  vessel  captured  by  a  French 
cruiser,  as  lawful  prize.  3.  That  a  vessel  had  been  fitted  out 
as  a  cruiser  in  Charleston,  manned  with  citizens  of  the  United 
States,  and  furnished  with  a  commission  to  cruise  against  na- 
tions at  peace  with  the  United  States;  and  4.  That  a  British 
ship  La  Grange  had  been  taken  by  a  French  frigate  within  the 
capes  of  the  Delaware;  and  although  this  act,  being  clearly  ille- 
gal, could  give  no  title  to  the  captured  property,  and  the  laws 
of  the  country  were  competent  to  afford  redress,  yet  as  between 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  427 

France  and  the  United  States,  such  an  act,  he  was  told, 
could  not  be  viewed  with  indifference.  The  first  ground  of 
complaint  was  admitted  not  to  violate  the  rights  of  neutrality, 
and  that  the  United  States  would  not  therefore  take  steps  to 
prevent  it,  but  that  both  belligerents  might  exercise  the  same 
right.  The  other  cases  were  all  treated  as  inconsistent  with 
the  sovereignty  of  the  United  States. 

On  the  27th  of  May,  Mr.  Genet,  who  had  reached  Philadel- 
phia in  the  meantime,  replied  to  this  note  from  Mr.  Jefferson. 
He  denied  any  knowledge  of  the  purchase  of  arms  in  the  United 
States,  and  suggested  that  the  complaint  was  to  be  made  the 
pretext  for  English  cruisers  to  "subject  American  vessels,  even 
under  the  shadow  of  their  modest  neutrality,  to  arbitrary  visits 
and  detentions." 

He  insisted  on  the  right  of  French  cruisers  to  bring  their 
prizes  into  American  ports  under  the  treaty  below  of  1778. 

He  admitted  the  facts  stated  in  the  third  ground  of  com- 
plaint, but  insisted  that  such  equipment  violated  no  existing 
law. 

He  acquiesced  in  the  opinion  of  the  attorney-general,  that  the 
capture  of  the  La  Grange  was  illegal,  and  stated  that  he  had 
ordered  her  to  be  restored. 

On  the  5th  of  June,  Mr.  Jefferson  replied,  and  again  insisted 
that  the  arming  and  equipping  of  vessels  in  the  United  States 
was  incompatible  with  their  territorial  sovereignty,  and  that 
the  assertion  of  this  right  of  sovereignty  by  a  neutral  nation  be- 
came a  duty,  whenever  it  was  violated  to  the  injury  of  a  bel- 
ligerent. 

Three  days  afterwards,  Mr.  Genet  replies,  that  the  doctrine 
asserted  was  "contrary  to  the  principles  of  natural  right;  to  the 
usages  of  nations;  to  the  connexions  which  unite  the  two  coun- 
tries, and  even  to  the  president's  proclamation."  After  some 
arguments  to  support  his  position  drawn  from  the  privileges 
stipulated  by  the  treaty,  he  says,  that  from  motives  of  concilia- 
tion he  had  instructed  the  French  consuls,  not  to  grant  commis- 
sions but  to  those  captains  who  should  bind  themselves  by  oath 
and  security,  "to  respect  the  territory  of  the  United  States,  and 


428  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

the  political  opinions  of  their  president,  until  the  representatives 
of  their  sovereign  shall  have  confirmed  or  rejected  them"  He  then 
in  a  very  declamatory  style  insists  on  the  right  of  the  consuls  to 
issue  such  commissions;  says,  "that  every  obstruction  by  the 
government  of  the  United  States  to  the  cruising  of  French  ves- 
sels, must  be  an  attempt  on  the  rights  of  man,  upon  which  re- 
pose the  independence  and  the  laws  of  the  United  States;  a 
violation  of  the  ties  which  unite  the  people  of  France  and  of 
America;  and  even  a  manifest  contradiction  of  the  system  of 
neutrality  of  the  president:"  and  after  bestowing  a  warm  eulogy 
on  the  people  of  America  and  their  attachment  to  France,  he 
expresses  the  wish  that  the  federal  government  "would  give  to 
the  world  the  example  of  a  true  neutrality,  which  does  not  con- 
sist in  the  cowardly  abandonment  of  their  friends  in  the  moment 
when  danger  menaces  them,  but  in  adhering  strictly,  if  they 
could  do  no  better,  to  the  obligations  they  have  contracted  with 
them." 

A  short  time  before,  two  American  citizens,  who  had  entered 
the  French  privateer,  Citizen  Genet,  had  been  arrested  and 
sent  to  prison.  The  French  minister  lost  no  time  in  applying 
for  their  release,  as  they  had  acquired  the  right  of  French  citi- 
zens, if  they  had  lost  that  of  American  citizens."  To  this 
application  Mr.  Jefferson  replied,  that  they  were  in  the  custody 
of  the  law,  and  that  the  government  had  no  right  to  interfere. 

On  the  14th  of  June,  Mr.  Genet  complained  that  the  sale  of 
vessels,  taken  by  a  French  cruiser,  had  been  stopped  at  Phila- 
delphia by  officers  of  the  United  States,  and  that  they  had  pre- 
vented a  French  vessel,  commissioned  by  the  republic  of  France, 
from  leaving  the  port  of  New  York,  and  he  asks  for  restitution, 
damages,  and  interest. 

Mr.  Jefferson  replied  on  the  17th.  He  said  that  the  seizure 
had  been  made  in  New  York  by  order  of  the  government;  that 
the  vessel  and  the  parties  concerned  in  the  enterprise  would 
be  delivered  up  to  the  tribunals  of  the  country,  for  them  to  de- 
cide whether  the  act  was  legal  or  punishable. 
*  He  then  maintains  at  some  length  the  opinion  formerly  ex- 
pressed, that  such  arming  and  equipping  of  vessels  in  the  United 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  429 

States,  to  cruise  against  nations  with  whom  they  were  at  peace, 
was  inconsistent  with  natural  law,  with  the  usage  of  nations, 
the  treaty  stipulations  between  the  two  countries,  and  with  the 
president's  proclamation.  He  adds,  in  conclusion,  that  in  the 
first  attempts  to  make  these  equipments,  the  president,  wishing 
to  involve  as  few  as  possible  in  the  censures  of  the  law,  had 
singled  out  American  citizens  for  prosecution;  but,  that  finding 
the  same  illegal  course  persevered  in,  he  had  now  directed 
legal  proceedings  against  citizens  and  aliens  indiscriminately; 
they  being  equally  amenable  to  laws  of  the  United  States  while 
within  their  territory. 

To  this  temperate  logic,  Mr.  Genet  answers  in  the  language 
of  passionate  complaint  and  crimination.  "Let  us  not,"  said 
he,  "lower  ourselves  to  the  level  of  ancient  politics,  by  diplo- 
matic subtleties."  He  tells  Mr.  Jefferson  that  his  reasonings 
are  "extremely  ingenious;"  but  that  they  rest  on  a  basis  which 
he  could  not  admit.  "You  oppose  to  my  complaints,  to  my  just 
reclamations,  upon  the  footing  of  right  the  private  or  public 
opinions  of  the  President  of  the  United  States;  and  this  egis  not 
appearing  to  you  sufficient,  you  bring  forward  aphorisms  of  Vat- 
tel,  to  justify,  or  excuse  infractions  committed  on  positive  trea- 
ties." He  then  contrasts  the  narrow,  selfish  policy  of  the  United 
States  with  the  generous  friendship  of  France,  and  adds,  "It  is 
not  thus  that  the  American  people  wish  we  should  be  treated. 
I  cannot  suppose,  and  I  wish  to  believe,  that  measures  of  this 
nature  were  not  conceived  in  the  heart  of  General  Washington 
— of  that  celebrated  hero  of  liberty.  I  can  attribute  them  only 
to  extraneous  impressions,  over  which  time  and  truth  will 
triumph."  With  the  show  of  earnest  entreaty,  but  really  in  a 
tone  of  arrogant  disrespect,  he  presses  the  release  of  the  "brave 
individuals"  who  had  enlisted  under  the  French  banner. 

The  debt  due  from  the  United  States  to  France,  and  then 
amounting  to  about  2,300,000  dollars,  also  formed  a  topic  of 
correspondence  and  complaint  with  Mr.  Genet. 

On  the  22nd  of  May,  Mr.  Genet  had  proposed  that  the  United 
States  should  pay  the  future  instalments  of  the  debt,  on  condi- 
tion that  France  should  receive  it  in  American  produce. 


430  -  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSOX. 

On  the  llth  of  June,  Mr.  Jefferson  informed  Mr.  Genet  that 
the  resources  of  the  United  States  did  not  allow  them  to  do 
this,  and  he  sent  the  minister  the  report  which  had  been  made 
by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  on  the  proposition. 

In  Mr.  Genet's  reply  of  the  14h,  he  commences  with  the 
following  puerility,  "It  is  the  character  of  the  elevated  minds 
of  freemen,  not  to  expose  themselves  twice  to  a  refusal."  Ad- 
verting to  the  reasons  assigned  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasu- 
ry, he  says,  "without  entering  into  the  financial  reason  which 
operates  this  refusal,  without  endeavouring  to  prove  to  you  that 
it  tends  to  accomplish  the  infernal  system  of  the  King  of  England, 
and  of  the  other  kings  his  accomplices,  to  destroy  by  famine, 
the  French  republicans  and  liberty,  I  attend,  on  the  present  oc- 
casion, only  to  the  calls  of  my  country."  He  then  states,  that  he 
was  authorized  to  assign  the  debt  due  from  America  to  France, 
in  payment  of  the  supplies  received  from  American  merchants 
and  farmers;  and  he,  therefore,  requested  that  the  president 
would  direct  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  adjust  with  him 
immediately  the  amount  of  the  debt  due  to  France. 

Mr.  Jefferson,  on  the  19th  of  June,  briefly  replied,  that  the 
instalment  of  principal  and  interest  still  due  to  France  should 
be  settled,  and  that  it  would  give  the  government  pleasure  if 
the  means  of  making  the  settlement  should  be  obtained  here  at 
the  moment,  but  it  was  suggested  that  the  mode  proposed  in 
Mr.  Genet's  letter  might  deserve  further  consideration,  both  as  to 
its  propriety  and  practicability  before  it  was  decided  on;  the 
government  confidently  trusting  that  "what  was  of  mutual  con- 
cern, would  not  be  done  but  with  mutual  concert."  It  was 
plainly  intimated  that  the  minister's  proposition  was  on  many 
accounts  objectionable.  . 

In  the  course  of  this  month  several  notes  passed  between  the 
Secretary  of  State  and  the  French  minister  setting  forth  mutual 
complaints;  the  American  minister  alleging  that  vessels  had 
been  taken  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States; 
and  the  French  minister  complaining  that  British  vessels  had 
been  permitted  to  arm  in  the  United  States;  but  as  these 
complaints  come  within  the  description  of  the  cases  already 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  431 

mentioned,  they  need  not  be  particularly  noticed.  One  case, 
however,  deserves  to  be  distinguished  from  the  rest,  not  only  as  an 
important  fact  in  the  history  of  this  singular  diplomacy,  but  to 
remove  misapprehension  as  to  the  part  which  Mr.  Jefferson  bore 
in  it. 

A  French  frigate  having  captured  and  sent  into  Philadelphia 
an  English  brig  called  the  Little  Sarah,  she  was  equipped, 
manned,  and  commissioned  as  a  privateer  by  Mr.  Genet,  under 
the  name  of  the  Little  Democrat.  Early  in  July,  the  Governor 
of  Pennsylvania  learning  that  this  vessel  was  about  to  sail  on  a 
cruise,  sent  his  secretary,  Mr.  Dallas,  to  Mr.  Genet,  to  request 
he  would  detain  her  a  few  days,  until  the  president,  then  on 
a  visit  to  Mount  Vernon,  returned  to  Philadelphia.  He  pe- 
remptorily refused  compliance;  warned  Mr.  Dallas  that  an  at- 
tempt to  use  force  would  be  repelled  by  force;  indulged  in  pas- 
sionate and  offensive  complaints  against  the  executive,  and  even 
threatened  to  appeal  to  the  people.  On  being  informed  of  these 
facts,  Governor  MirHin,  in  conformity  with  the  request  which 
the  president  had  addressed  to  the  executive  authorities  of  all 
the  states,  ordered  out  a  body  of  militia  for  the  seizure  of  the 
privateer. 

In  the  mean  while  Mr.  Jefferson,  unwilling  to  see  the  two 
nations  brough  into  open  collision  by  the  rashness  of  one  man, 
made  a  second  attempt  at  conciliation  by  calling  on  Mr.  Genet, 
and  renewing  Mr.  Dallas's  request.  He  also  was  refused,  and 
Mr.  Genet  accompanied  his  refusal  with  the  same  intemperate 
language,  and  the  same  indication  that  an  attempt  to  detain  the 
privateer  by  force  would  be  repelled  by  force.  He  at  the  same 
time  assured  Mr.  Jefferson  that  the  vessel  was  not  ready  to  sail. 
Mr.  Jefferson  having  communicated  this  assurance  to  Governor 
Mifflin,  and  his  own  confidence  in  it,  the  governor  countermand- 
ed the  order  to  the  militia,  and  requested  the  advice  of  the 
heads  of  departments. 

On  a  consultation  by  the  three  secretaries,  (for  the  attorney- 
general  was  also  in  Virginia,)  Colonel  Hamilton  and  General 
Knox  were  in  favour  of  employing  force,  if  necessary,  to  prevent 
the  privateer  from  sailing;  but  Mr.  Jefferson  thinking  the  mea- 


432  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

sure  impolitic  and  unnecessary,  his  colleagues  acquiesced  in  his 
opinion. 

On  the  llth  of  July,  the  president  arrived,  and  learning  the 
facts  of  the  case,  and  that  the  Little  Democrat  had  fallen  down, 
the  river  to  Chester,  called  a  cabinet  council  early  the  next  day. 
It  was  then  decided  to  detain  all  vessels  of  any  of  the  belligerents 
which  had  been  armed  in  the  United  States,  together  with 
their  prizes,  until  the  questions  thereon  arising  could  be  referred 
to  persons  learned  in  the  law.  Mr.  Jefferson  officially  inform- 
ed Mr.  Genet  of  this  decision  of  the  president,  and  of  his  expec- 
tation that  the  Little  Democrat  and  other  vessels  specially  de- 
signated would  not  depart  until  his  ultimate  determination 
should  be  made  known.  The  minister  had  assured  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son on  the  llth,  that  the  Little  Democrat  would  not  sail  before 
the  president's  decision  concerning  her  should'  be  made;  but  in 
disregard  of  what  might  be  interpreted  an  indirect  assurance 
that  he  would  abide  by  that  determination,  and  in  contempt  of 
the  president's  request,  she,  three  or  four  days  afterwards,  put  to 
sea,  and  continued,  as  a  cruiser,  on  the  American  coasts.* 

*  This  case  is  so  narrated  in  Marshall's  Life  of  Washington  as  to 
leave  an  impression,  that  Mr.  Genet's  defiance  of  the  public  authorities 
received  Mr.  Jefferson's  favour,  if  not  co-operation;  and  the  effect  is  pro- 
duced partly  by  omissions,  and  partly  by  what  can  rarely  be  charged 
against  that  work,  inaccuracy  in  the  statement  of  facts.  I  am  far  from 
saying  that  injustice  was  intended.  My  thorough  knowledge  of  the  dis- 
tinguished author  precludes  that  supposition;  but  he  was  known  to  have 
strong  party  feelings,  and  even  his  mind  was  not  always  able  to  resist 
their  biases  either  towards  his  political  friends  or  opponents.  Whoever 
will  carefully  examine  the  original  sources  of  his  materials  may  see,  that 
while  he  is,  in  the  main,  scrupulously  correct  as  to  facts,  they  are  often 
so  stated  as  to  mislead,  because  he  exhibits  them  in  the  same  partial 
light  in  which  he  himself  had  viewed  them.  We  have  an  instance  of 
this  on  the  present  occasion.  Thus,  though  Mr.  Jefferson  "had  retired, 
indisposed,  to  his  seat  in  the  country,"  when  the  president  wished  to  con- 
sult him  on  the  case  of  the  Little  Democrat,  yet  he  attended  the  cabinet 
consultation  the  next  day,  and  wrote  the  communication  which  the 
author  states  in  the  impersonal  form.  He  also  wrote  the  letter  to  the 
judges  of  the  supreme  court,  which  is  noticed  in  the  first  edition  of 
the  Life  of  Washington.  That  letter,  however,  was  not  written  until 
the  18th. 

Nor  is  it  correct  to  say,  that  the  Little  Democrat  sailed  "before  the 
power  of  the  government  could  be  interposed,"  as  the  president  reached 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  433 

In  a  letter  of  the  9th  of  July,  the  same  day  that  he  had 
answered  Mr.  Jefferson's  inquiries  concerning  the  Little  Demo- 
crat, Mr.  Genet  formally  mentioned  the  "revolting  treatment" 
which  American  vessels  experienced  from  English  ships  of  war. 
He  refers  to  his  former  information  on  this  point,  in  addition  to 
which  he  notices  some  new  cases,  and  he  asks  to  be  informed  of  "the 
measures"  the  "president  has  taken,  or  proposes  to  take,  to  cause 
the  flag  of  the  United  States  to  be  respected."  He  adds,  that 
as  the  English  will  probably  continue  to  capture  French  citizens 
and  property  from  American  vessels  without  "embarrassing 
themselves  with  the  philosophical  principles  proclaimed  by  the 
president,"  it  was  necessary  that  the  French  people  should  take 
measures  to  defend  themselves  from  the  injurious  consequences 
of  their  engagements  with  the  United  States;  adding,  that  the 
American  people  ought  not  to  require  France  to  submit  to  in- 
justice from  the  English,  which  they  themselves  have  not  the 
means  of  preventing. 

On  the  24th,  Mr.  Jeflerson  replied  to  Mr.  Genet's  letter  of 
the  9th,  that  by  the  law  of  nations,  the  goods  of  a  friend  found 
in  the  vessel  of  an  enemy  are  free,  while  the  goods  of  an  enemy 
found  in  the  vessel  of  a  friend  are  lawful  prize.  That  it  was 
upon  this  principle,  he  presumed,  that  British  vessels  had  taken 

Philadelphia  on  the  llth,  and  she  did  not  go  to  sea  until  four  or  five  days 
afterwards. 

"Coercive  measures  were  suspended,"  not  as  is  intimated  on  account 
of  Genet's  assurances  through  Mr.  Jefferson,  that  the  privateer  "would 
not  sail  before  the  president's  decision  respecting  her  should  be  made;" 
but  from  the  forbearance  of  the  government.  This  appears  from  the  fol- 
lowing passage  in  the  official  letter  to  Gouverneur  Morris  which  asked  for 
Mr.  Genet's  recall.  "If  our  citizens  have  not  been  shedding  each  other's 
blood,  it  is  not  owing  to  the  moderation  of  Mr.  Genet,  but  to  the  forbear- 
ance of  our  government.  It  is  well  known  that  if  the  authority  of  the 
laws  had  been  resorted  to,  to  stop  the  Little  Democrat,  its  officers  and 
agents  were  to  have  been  resisted  by  the  crew  of  the  vessel,  consisting 
partly  of  American  citizens." 

This  letter,  which  received  the  sanction  of  the  president  both  at  the 
time  it  was  written,  and  when  it  was  a  few  months  afterwards  communi- 
cated by  him  to  Congress,  claims  a  merit  for  the  government  for  not  em- 
ploying force,  which  is  as  inconsistent  with  either  of  the  reasons  assigned 
by  Judge  Marshall,  as  they  are  with  each  other. 

VOL.  I.— 55 


434  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

the  property  of  French  citizens  from  American  vessels,  and  he 
knew  not  on  what  principle  it  could  be  reclaimed.  He  admits 
that  the  contrary  rule  would  be  more  convenient  to  commerce; 
and  that,  therefore,  it  had  been  expressly  stipulated  by  some 
nations  in  their  treaties,  and  the  United  States  had  thus  modi- 
fied the  rule  in  their  treaties  with  France,  the  Netherlands,  and 
Prussia;  but  that  she  had  no  such  stipulation  with  England. 
Nor  was  France  likely  to  suffer  by  the  rule,  for  though  she  loses 
her  goods  in  our  vessels  when  found  therein  by  England,  Spain, 
Portugal,  or  Austria,  yet  she  gains  our  goods  when  found  in  the 
vessels  of  England,  Spain,  Portugal,  Austria,  the  United  Nether- 
lands, or  Prussia;  and  that  America  had  more  goods  afloat  in 
the  vessels  of  these  six  nations,  than  France  had  afloat  in  our 
vessels. 

On  the  25th  of  July,  Mr.  Genet  renewed  his  complaints  in  a 
yet  more  lofty  and  offensive  style.  "On  all  the  seas,"  he  re- 
marks, "an  audacious  piracy  pursues  even  in  your  vessels,  French 
property,  and  also  that  of  the  Americans  when  destined  for  our 
ports.  Your  political  rights  are  counted  for  nothing:  in  vain  do 
the  principles  of  neutrality  establish  that  friendly  vessels  make 
friendly  goods:  in  vain,  sir,  does  the  President  of  the  United 
States  endeavour,  in  his  proclamation,  to  reclaim  the  observance 
of  this  maxim:  in  vain  does  the  desire  of  preserving  peace  lead 
to  sacrifice  the  interests  of  France  to  that  of  the  moment:  in 
vain  does  the  thirst  of  riches  preponderate  over  honour  in  the 
political  balance  of  America:  all  this  management,  all  this  con- 
descension, all  this  humility,  end  in  nothing;  our  enemies 
laugh  at  it;  and  the  French,  too  confident,  are  punished  for 
having  believed  that  the  American  nation  had  a  flag,  that  they 
had  some  respect  for  their  laws,  some  conviction  of  their 
strength,  and  entertained  some  sentiment  of  their  dignity.  It 
is  not  possible  for  me,  sir,  to  paint  to  you  all  my  sensibility  at 
this  scandal  which  tends  to  the  diminution  of  your  commerce,  to 
the  oppression  of  ours,  and  to  the  debasement  and  vilification  of 
republics." 

To  this  effusion  of  insolence  and  bad   taste  no  reply   was 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON".  435 

made.     The  self-respect  of  the  government  decided  on  taking  a 
more  appropriate  notice  of  it. 

Mr.  Jefferson  wrote  on  the  7th  of  August  to  Mr.  Genet,  and 
after  reminding  him  that  French  vessels  were  armed  in  our 
ports;  that  they  had  remained  there  after  he  had  requested 
their  departure,  or  had  left  the  ports  only  to  cruise  on  our 
coasts,  and  to  return  with  their  prizes;  that  the  Little  Demo- 
crat had  been  since  armed  in  Philadelphia,  and  had  actually 
sailed  on  a  cruise,  although  Mr.  Genet  had  been  specially  re- 
quested to  detain  such  vessels  and  their  prizes  until  the  govern- 
ment had  determined  on  the  measures  to  be  taken;  that  the 
United  States  was  bound  by  its  assurances,  to  make  compensa- 
tion for  all  prizes  since  the  5th  of  June,  by  vessels  fitted  out  of 
our  ports;  that  the  French  minister  would  be  expected  to  cause 
restitution  of  all  such  prizes  brought  into  American  ports;  and 
that  the  indemnification  which  the  United  States  were  bound  to 
give  for  the  prizes  not  so  restored  was  expected  to  be  reimbursed 
by  France;  that  the  government  would  take  efficacious  mea- 
sures to  prevent  the  fitting  out  such  privateers  for  the  future; 
would  not  afford  any  vessels  so  fitted  out  an  asylum,  and  would 
cause  restitution  for  such  other  prizes  as  they  might  bring  in. 
In  a  tone  of  temperate  decision  the  letter  thus  concludes,  "It 
would  have  been  but  proper  respect  to  the  authority  of  the 
country,  had  that  been  consulted  before  these  armaments  were 
undertaken.  It  would  have  been  satisfactory,  however,  if  their 
sense  of  them,  when  declared,  had  been  duly  acquiesced  in. 
Reparation  of  the  injury,  to  which  the  United  States  have  been 
made  so  involuntary  instrumental,  is  all  which  now  remains,  and 
in  this  your  compliance  cannot  but  be  expected." 

The  forbearance  of  the  government  had  now  reached  its  utmost 
limit,  and  on  the  16th  inst.  the  Secretary  of  State  wrote  to  Mr. 
Gouverneur  Morris,  then  minister  to  France  to  explain  the  course 
of  our  government  towards  the  belligerents,  to  complain  of  Mr. 
Genet's  conduct,  and  to  request  his  recall.  Referring  to  a  former 
letter,  Mr.  Jefferson  says,  "Mr.  Genet  had  then  been  but  a  little 
time  with  us;  and  but  a  little  more  was  necessary  to  develope 
in  him  a  character  and  conduct  so  unexpected  and  so  extraor- 


436  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

dinary,  as  to  place  us  in  the  most  distressing  dilemma,  between 
our  regard  for  his  nation,  which  is  constant  and  sincere,  and  a 
regard  for  our  laws,  the  authority  of  which  must  be  maintained; 
for  the  peace  of  our  country  which  the  executive  magistrate  is 
charged  to  preserve;  for  its  honour,  offended  in  the  person  of 
that  magistrate;  and  for  its  character,  grossly  traduced  in  the 
conversations  and  letters  of  this  gentleman.  In  the  course  of 
these  transactions,  it  has  been  a  great  comfort  to  us  to  believe, 
that  none  of  them  were  within  the  intentions  or  expectations  of 
his  employers.  These  had  been  too  recently  expressed  in  acts 
which  nothing  could  discolour;  in  the  acts  of  the  executive 
council;  in  the  letters  and  decrees  of  the  National  Assembly;  and 
in  the  general  demeanour  of  the  nation  towards  us,  to  ascribe  to 
them  things  of  so  contrary  a  character.  Our  first  duty,  there- 
fore, was  to  draw  a  strong  line  between  their  intentions  and  the 
proceedings  of  their  minister;  our  second,  to  lay  those  proceed- 
ings faithfully  before  them." 

A  full  detail  of  all  which  had  taken  place  between  Mr.  Ge- 
net and  the  government  was  then  given;  and  the  attention  of 
Mr.  Morris  was  particularly  called  to  all  the  offensive  and  in- 
decorous language  which  Genet  had  used  in  his  correspondence, 
on  which  the  secretary  remarks,  "we  draw  a  veil  over  the  sen- 
sations which  these  expressions  excite.  No  words  can  render 
them;  but  they  will  not  escape  the  sensibility  of  a  friendly  and 
magnanimous  nation,  who  will  not  do  injustice.  We  see  in  them 
neither  the  portrait  of  ourselves,  nor  the  pencil  of  our  friends; 
but  an  attempt  to  embroil  both;  to  add  still  another  nation  to 
the  enemies  of  his  country,  and  to  draw  on  both  a  reproach, 
which,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  will  never  stain  the  history  of  either. 
His  immediate  recall  is,  therefore,  requested,  as  his  continuance 
is  inconsistent  with  order,  peace,  respect,  and  that  friendly  cor- 
respondence which  we  hope  will  ever  subsist  between  the  two 
nations." 

This  letter,  a  copy  of  which  was  sent  to  Mr.  Genet,  was  re- 
plied to  by  him  at  great  length  on  the  18th  of  September,  in 
his  usual  tone  of  offensive  declamation,  but  as  by  an  accidental 
miscarriage,  his  letter  was  not  received  urilil  the  2nd  of  Decem- 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  437 

ber,  it  is  unnecessary  further  to  notice  its  contents,  except  that 
in  addition  to  a  long  catalogue  of  injuries  which  he  states  to 
have  received  from  the  president,  he  indulges  in  reproaches 
against  Mr.  Jefferson  himself,  whose  official  course  he  affects  to 
regard  as  inconsistent  with  his  first  professions  of  friendship. 

From  the  time  that  Mr.  Genet's  recall  was  requested  until 
December,  when  Mr.  Jefferson  resigned,  their  correspondence 
was  kept  up  on  various  occasions  of  business;  but  if  part  of  it 
exhibited  some  of  the  same  extraordinary  features  as  that  which 
preceded  it,  it  was  less  arrogant  and  offensive,  except  that  on 
some  objection  being  made  to  the  commission  of  a  French  con- 
sul, because  it  was  not  addressed  to  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  Mr.  Genet  undertook  to  question  the  propriety  of  the 
objection.  He  was  however  told  that  no  foreign  agent  could 
be  allowed  to  question  that  whatever  the  president  officially 
communicates,  "expresses  the  will  of  the  nation,"  that  no  dis- 
cussion could  be  entered  into  with  him  on  this  subject;  and  that, 
as  he  had  questioned  the  authority  of  the  president,  and  had 
not  addressed  to  him  certain  consular  commissions,  they  were 
returned  to  him,  and  that  no  exequatur  would  be  issued  so  long 
as  the  requisite  form  was  not  strictly  complied  with. 

The  whole  of  Mr.  Genet's  conduct,  during  the  few  months  he 
acted  as  the  minister  of  France,  was  characterized  by  the  same 
vehement  zeal  in  behalf  of  the  cause  of  the  revolution;  the  same 
contempt  of  the  forms  of  diplomatic  intercourse;  the  same  fer- 
vid appeals  to  the  popular  enthusiasm;  and  the  same  manifest 
disposition  to  natter  the  people  of  the  United  States,  and  to  in- 
sult its  government.  If  a  part  of  the  extravagance  into  which 
he  was  betrayed  is  to  be  placed  to  the  account  of  his  own  irritable 
temper,  a  part  also  must  be  ascribed  to  the  spirit  of  the  times, 
which  courted  innovation  in  government,  religion,  morals,  and 
manners;  and  in  its  aspirations  after  a  new  and  improved  order 
of  things,  regarded  and  spoke  of  ancient  usages  and  forms  with 
sovereign  contempt.  It  is  likely  that  many  of  the  expressions 
that  appear  to  us  as  the  grossest  violations  of  the  courtesy  of 
civilized  nations,  and  which  the  self-respect  of  no  independent 
people  would  tolerate,  seemed  to  his  distempered  mind  as  mere- 


438  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

ly  the  language  of  republican  frankness,  stript  of  aristocratic 
varnish;  and  the  asperities  of  which  he  could  not  have  softened 
without  incurring  the  reproach  of  the  courtly  sins  of  servility 
and  dissimulation.  He  was,  without  doubt,  farther  induced 
by  the  very  cordial  reception  he  met  with  from  the  nation  at 
large,  and  the  tone  of  the  most  popular  journals,  to  believe  that 
he  would  be  supported  by  public  opinion,  in  his  controversy  with 
the  government;  and,  consequently,  that  he  would  ultimately 
triumph  either  in  involving  the  United  States  in  a  war  with 
Great  Britain,  or  in  making  their  neutrality  still  more  advan- 
tageous to  the  cause  of  France. 

To  conclude  the  episode  of  Mr.  Genet's  diplomacy — the  repre- 
sentations of  the  American  government  respecting  the  minister, 
produced  their  intended  effect  in  France.  His  conduct  was 
there  unhesitatingly  condemned;  and  it  appears,  on  the  authority 
of  Mr.  Gouverneur  Morris,  that  a  plan  was  immediately  formed 
to  despatch  four  commissioners  to  the  United  States,  who, 
besides  repairing  the  breach  which  the  minister  had  made  in 
the  good  understanding  between  the  two  governments,  were  to 
send  him  home  a  prisoner,  to  receive  the  punishment  due  to  his 
misconduct.  But  in  the  sudden  vicissitudes  of  parties,  which  at 
that  time  succeeded  each  other  like  the  actors  of  a  play,  this 
plan  was  forgotten,  or  disregarded,  and  Mr.  Genet  remained, 
and  permanently  settled  in  the  United  States. 


439 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


State  of  parties  as  to  the  French  Revolution.  The  Proclamation  of 
Neutrality— how  viewed  by  the  two  parties— by  Mr.  Hamilton  and 
Mr.  Madison.  Mr.  Jefferson- s  letters  to  Mr.  Madison  and  Mr.  Monroe. 
Cabinet  consultations  concerning  Genet.  The  order  of  the  British 
government  relative  to  neutrals — the  correspondence  relative  to  it — 
Impressment  of  American  seamen.  French  decrees  relative  to  neu- 
trals. Discussions  in  the  cabinet — Proclamation  of  neutrality — 
Fortifications — Military  Academy.  Communications  to  Congress  on 
the  foreign  relations  of  the  United  States.  Mr.  Jefferson's  report  on 
commercial  restrictions.  His  resignation  and  return  to  Monticello. 

1793. 

IT  may  well  be  supposed  that  Mr.  Genet,  after  full  allowance 
is  made  for  his  own  defects  of  temper  and  judgment,  would  not 
have  ventured  thus  to  insult  the  chief  magistrate  of  the  coun- 
try, and  such  a  chief  magistrate  too,  if  he  had  not  received  the 
countenance  of  many  American  citizens.  The  journalists  of 
the  day,  which,  though  commonly  exhibiting  public  opinion 
under  exaggerated  forms,  are  still  its  best  mirrors,  show  that 
however  the  supporters  of  the  administration  and  the  more 
sober-minded  of  all  parties  may  have  been  offended  by  the  tone 
of  disrespect  and  defiance  manifested  in  his  official  communica- 
tions, the  enthusiastic  favour  then  felt  for  his  nation  made  not 
a  small  portion  of  the  American  people  view  his  conduct  with 
indulgence,  and  even  approbation.  Considering  France  as  the 
party  aggrieved,  they  regarded  the  haughty  and  insulting  ex- 
pressions of  her  minister  as  just  retaliations  for  the  wrongs 
which  had  provoked  them;  and  although  impartial  history  must 


440  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

unhesitatingly  pass  a  sentence  of  condemnation  on  Mr.  Genet 
and  his  apologists,  yet  we  cannot  correctly  appreciate  the  con- 
duct of  the  latter  without  carrying  ourselves  back  to  those  times 
of  passion  and  moral  frenzy,  and  viewing  things  in  the  aspects 
under  which  they  then  presented  themselves  to  the  living  ac- 
tors. 

The  warm  friends  of  civil  liberty  in  every  country  saw  in 
the  French  revolution  a^  enlightened,  refined,  brave  and  power- 
ful nation,  struggling  to  add  the  blessings  of  free  government  to 
its  other  advantages,  and  they  naturally  wished  it  success.  But 
the  American  votary  of  freedom  had  a  further  cause  for  his 
good  wishes.  France  had  assisted  the  United  States  in  achiev- 
ing their  independence,  and  it  was  in  affording  that  very 
assistance,  as  all  believed,  that  she  had  caught  the  contagious 
love  of  liberty  which  now  pervaded  all  ranks  of  her  people. 
His  zeal  then,  in  behalf  of  France,  received  a  new  impulse  from 
the  sentiments  of  gratitude  and  national  pride. 

The  subsequent  course  of  events  contributed  still  further  to 
increase  this  interest;  for  the  enthusiasm  with  which  the  doc- 
trines of  the  natural  liberty  and  equality  of  man  had  been  re- 
ceived in  France,  having  spread,  by  the  force  of  sympathy, 
over  the  greater  part  of  Europe,  its  most  powerful  princes, 
alarmed  for  the  stability  of  their  power,  determined  to  carry  on 
a  crusade  against  the  French  republic,  and  to  re-establish  the 
monarchy  by  force.  And  though  France,  in  her  avowed  priny 
ciples  of  proselytism,  was  as  obnoxious,  perhaps,  as  her  enemies 
to  the  reproach  of  intermeddling  in  the  concerns  of  other  na- 
tions, yet  after  the  struggle  had  begun,  the  American  people 
regarded  it  as  a  contest  between  tyranny  and  the  right  of  self- 
government,  in  which  it  did  not  become  them  to  be  passive 
spectators;  and  the  bolder  and  more  sanguine  portion  of  the 
party  wished  their  country,  in  support  of  its  most  cherished 
principles,  to  exchange  a  cold  and  heartless  neutrality  for  a 
zealous  and  efficient  co-operation.  If  we  now  admit,  as  well 
we  may,  and  as  then  appeared  to  the  more  considerate  of  all 
parties,  that  by  making  common  cause  with  France,  we  should 
have  injured  ourselves  far  more  than  we  could  benefit  our  ally, 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSOX.  441 

yet  such  calculations  of  prudence  were  little  likely  to  weigh 
against  the  stronger  motives  of  sympathy  for  France,  and  of  re- 
sentment against  her  enemies;  and,  however  we  may  condemn 
the  policy  of  the  course  they  would  have  pursued,  we  cannot 
but  respect  the  disinterested  generosity  which  disdained  to  cal- 
culate its  cost  and  its  danger. 

In  the  first  years  of  the  French  revolution,  that  event  held 
no  place  in  the  party  warfare  of  the  United  States.  It  is  true 
that  it  soon  began  to  be  viewed  very  differently  by  different 
men,  according  as  they  more  or  less  affected  popular  govern- 
ment, and  as  they  were  the  disciples  of  Burke  on  the  one  hand, 
or  of  Paine,  M'Intosh,  and  Priestley  on  the  other;  but  it  did  not 
mingle  in  their  open  dissentions,  which  were  confined  to  the 
distribution  of  power  between  the  federal  government  and  the 
states,  the  funding  system,  the  assumption,  the  bank,  excise,  and ' 
the  introduction  of  certain  regal  forms  and  court  pageantry.* 
But  after  the  rupture  between  France  and  England,  the  cause 
of  the  revolution  visibly  entered  into  the  contests  between  the 
federalists  and  republicans,  gradually  occupied  a  larger  and 
larger  share,  until  it  became,  for  a  time,  the  main  pivot  on 
which  they  turned. 

The  proclamation  of  neutrality  presented  the  first  occasion 
for  this  change  to  manifest  itself.     It  was  issued  on  the  22nd  of 

*  It  may  seem  to  readers  of  the  present  day  that  this  affectation  of  Eu- 
ropean forms  could  scarcely  deserve  to  be  mentioned  among  the  grounds 
of  party  animosity;  but  in  truth  both  parties  contributed  to  give  them  a 
factitious  importance;  the  one  regarding  all  badges  oi'rank  and  privilege 
with  superstitious  horror;  and  the  other  with  childish  predilection.  As 
a  mode  of  giving  dignity  to  the  government  it  was  in  false  taste,  and  no 
less  discordant  with  the  spirit  of  the  age  than  with  the  condition,  manners, 
and  temper  of  the  American  people.  But  the  folly  required  no  severer 
castigation  than  ridicule;  and  it  may  be  doubted  whether  Judge  Burke's 
grave  denunciation  of  the  Cincinnati,  ushered  in  with  the  war-cry  of 
"Blow  ye  the  trumpet  in  Zion,"  would  have  equalled  in  effect  Dr. 
Franklin's  inimitable  irony  on  the  same  subject,  had  it  been  then  pub- 
lished. It  was  in  this  spirit  that  Mr.  Grayson,  one  of  the  senators  from 
Virginia,  suggested,  when  it  had  been  seriously  proposed  by  his  colleague 
to  give  titles  to  the  two  highest  offices  of  the  government,  that  the 
president  should  be  styled  "His  Limpid  Highness,"  and  the  vice-presi- 
dent, "His  Superfluous  Excellency." 

VOL.  I.— 56 


442  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

April,  and  after  premising  that  both  "duty  and  interest"  re- 
quired the  United  States  to  pursue  a  "friendly  and  impartial 
conduct"  towards  the  belligerent  powers,  it  declared  them  also 
disposed  to  observe  such  conduct;  admonished  American  citi- 
zens to  avoid  all  acts  tending  to  contravene  that  disposition;  and 
declared  that,  in  case  of  any  violation  of  the  law  of  nations 
abroad,  by  engaging  in  hostilities,  or  carrying  contraband  of 
war,  they  would  not  receive  the  protection  of  their  government; 
and  for  violations  at  home  be  liable  to  public  prosecution. 

This  measure  of  the  administration  was  not  well  received  by 
the  warm  friends  of  France.  Many,  as  has  been  mentioned, 
wouW  have  been  quite  willing  to  make  common  cause  with  that 
nation;  and  those  whose  zeal  did  not  so  far  out-weigh  the  dic- 
tates of  prudence,  considered  that,  if  policy  imperiously  re- 
quired the  United  States  to  show  no  more  favour  to  an  ally  and 
friend,  than  to  a  recent  enemy  and  present  rival,  at  least  some 
softening  should  be  given  to  so  ungracious  a  purpose  by  the 
manner  of  executing  it;  and  that  our  language  might  have  in- 
dicated to  France,  that  if  we  were  not  in  a  condition  to  recipro- 
cate her  former  good  offices,  she,  at  all  events,  had  our  good 
wishes.  It  was  further  objected,  that  as,  by  the  federal  consti- 
tution, the  power  of  making  war  is  vested  in  the  legislature, 
that  branch  of  the  government  has  the  exclusive  right  to  pass 
judgment  on  the  causes  of  war,  and  on  the  effect  of  the  guaran- 
tee of  French  colonies  in  the  West  Indies;  and,  consequently, 
that  the  executive  had  no  authority  to  prejudge  that  question, 
and  to  pronounce  that  the  United  States  stood  in  the  relation 
of  impartial  neutrality  towards  the  belligerents. 

The  federalists  on  the  other  hand  insisted  that  we  were  un- 
der no  obligation  by  treaty  to  take  sides  with  France,  as  the 
guarantee  applied  only  to  the  case  of  defensive  war,  and  not  to 
one  like  the  present,  in  which  France  was  the  aggressor.  As 
to  the  obligations  of  gratitude,  they  maintained  that  nations 
were  not  to  be  governed  by  the  same  rules  as  individuals;  that 
though  this  were  not  the  case,  France  had,  in  assisting  Ameri- 
ca, sought  to  advance  her  own  interest,  and  to  weaken  a  formi- 
dable rival;  and  further,  that  so  far  as  the  sentiment  was  appli- 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  443 

cable  at  all,  it  was  due  not  to  the  French  nation,  but  to  the 
monarch  they  had  lately  put  to  death:  that  the  United  States 
being  now  at  peace,  and  having,  on  every  ground,  a  right  to 
remain  so,  it  was  the  duty  of  the  government  to  proclaim  the 
fact  to  the  world,  as  the  likeliest  means  of  removing  false 
impressions  from  the  minds  of  our  citizens,  of  preventing  the 
unfounded  hopes  of  one  belligerent,  and  of  quieting  the  suspi- 
cions of  the  rest 

On  this  question  Mr.  Hamilton  and  Mr.  Madison,  who  had  co- 
operated so  cordially  and  so  efficiently  in  recommending  the 
federal  constitution  to  their  fellow  citizens,  were  found  on  op- 
posite sides  in  construing  that  instrument,  as  indeed  they  had 
been  almost  from  the  time  that  it  went  into  operation.  They 
supported  their  respective  opinions  in  the  public  journals,*  with 
their  wonted  ability.  Mr.  Hamilton  maintained  that  the  pro- 
clamation, as  a  declaration  of  neutrality,  was  authorized  by  the 
constitution,  and  reconcileable  with  the  French  treaty,  no  less 
than  it  was  recommended  by  prudence  and  propriety.  Mr. 
Madison,  in  a  professed  reply,  confined  himself  to  the  constitu- 
tional doctrines  of  his  adversary.  He  admitted  the  propriety  of 
a  proclamation  for  the  purpose  of  enjoining  on  American  citi- 
zens the  duties  of  peace,  until  Congress  thought  proper  to 
change  their  pacific  relations;  but  denied  that  it  was  competent 
for  the  president  to  judge  of  the  causes  of  war,  and  thus  to 
pronounce  that  the  United  States  were  de  jure  in  a  state  of 
neutrality:  and  while  he  regrets  that  the  proclamation  should 
have  spoken  of  the  "duty  and  interest  of  the  United  States,"  in 
relation  to  the  war,  he  questions  whether  even  these  terms,  ex- 
ceptionable as  they  were,  fairly  warrant  the  meaning  given  to 
that  paper  by  its  expounder. 

The  proclamation,  however,  continued  to  be  regarded  by 

*  Mr.  Hamilton  wrote  under  the  signature  of  PACIFICUS;  Mr.  Madison, 
under  that  of  HELVIDIDS.  The  numbers  of  Pacificus  were  best  fitted  to 
make  an  impression  on  the  mass  of  the  nation,  for  whom  they  were  in- 
tended. But  if  the  arguments  of  HeMdius  were  often  too  refined  for 
popular  apprehension,  they  were  also  more  likely  to  convince  or  satisfy 
the  mind  of  the  discriminating  and  honest  expounder  of  the  constitution. 


444  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

both  parties  as  a  declaration  of  neutrality,  and  as  such,  it  was 
condemned  by  those  whose  feelings  or  constitutional  doctrines  it 
opposed;  but  was  approved  by  a  far  greater  number,  partly  from 
the  president's  weight  and  influence,  and  partly  because  the 
best  interests  of  the  United  States  recommended  a  state  of  neu- 
trality and  peace.  And  though  we  admit,  as  most  of  our  ap- 
proved jurists  will,  that  Mr.  Madison's  reasoning  best  accords 
with  the  just  theory  of  our  government,  yet«it  is  not  seen  that 
the  error  it  exposed  could  produce  any  serious  mischief.  A 
proclamation,  in  which  the  president  gives  to  his  fellow  citizens 
an  opinion  on  a  matter  which  he  cannot  solely  decide,  must  be 
held  far  less  to  interfere  with  the  power  of  Congress  to  make 
war,  or  to  give  to  foreign  nations  a  pledge  of  peace,  than  a  re- 
commendation in  a  message,  which  is  not  only  authorized  by 
the  constitution,  but  has  never  been  regarded,  in  practice,  as 
impairing  the  free  and  independent  agency  of  the  legislature. 

The  part  which  Mr.  Jefferson  took  in  the  cabinet  relative  to 
Genet,  and  his  private  opinion  of  that  minister's  conduct,  and 
the  proclamation  of  neutrality,  are  fully  disclosed  in  his  diary, 
and  in  the  letters  written  to  his  confidential  friends  at  this  time. 
Thus,  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Madison,  dated  July  8th,  1793,  after 
noticing  the  papers  signed  "Pacificus,"  and  entreating  Mr. 
Madison  to  take  up  his  pen  and  answer  "Hamilton's  heresies," 
he  thus  speaks  of  Genet: 

"Never,  in~my  opinion,  was  so  calamitous  an  appointment 
made  as  that  of  the  present  minister  of  France  here.  Hot- 
headed, all  imagination,  no  judgment,  passionate,  disrespectful, 
and  even  indecent  towards  the  president  in  his  written,  as  well 
as  his  verbal  communications  before  Congress  or  the  public, 
they  will  excite  indignation.  He  renders  my  position  immensely 
difficult.  He  does  me  justice  personally;  and  giving  him  time 
to  vent  himself,  and  become  more  cool,  I  am  on  a  footing  to  ad- 
vise him  freely,  and  he  respects  it;  but  he  will  break  out 
again  on  the  very  first  occasion,  so  that  he  is  incapable  of  cor- 
recting himself.  To  complete  our  misfortune,  we  have  no  chan- 
nel through  which  we  can  correct  the  irritating  representations 
he  may  make." 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  445 

Extract  of  a  letter  to  James  Munroe,  dated  July  14,  1793. 

"The  proclamation  of  neutrality  was  opposed — 1.  Be- 
cause the  executive  has  no  power  to  declare  neutrality.  2.  As 
such  a  declaration  would  be  premature,  and  would  lose  us  the 
benefits  for  which  it  might  be  bestowed.  It  was  urged  that 
there  was  a  strong  impression  on  the  minds  of  many  that  they 
were  free  to  join  in  the  hostilities,  on  the  side  of  France;  others 
were  unapprized  of  the  dangers  they  would  be  exposed  to  in 
carrying  contraband  goods;  and  it  was  therefore  agreed  a  pro- 
clamation should  issue,  declaring  that  we  were  in  a  state  of 
peace  with  all  parties;  admonishing  the  people  to  do  nothing 
contravening  it,  and  putting  them  on  their  guard  as  to  contra- 
band. On  this  ground,  it  was  accepted  or  acquiesced  in  by  all. 
The  public,  however,  soon  took  it  up  as  a  declaration  of  neu- 
trality, and  it  came  to  be  considered  at  length  as  such." — 

After  speaking  of  the  embarrassments  arising  from  the  arm- 
ing of  French  vessels,  he  adds:  "I  fear  the  disgust  of  France  is 
inevitable.  We  shall  be  to  blame  in  part,  but  the  new  minister 
much  more  so.  His  conduct  is  indefensible  by  the  most  furious 
jacobin.  I  only  wish  our  countrymen  may  distinguish  between 
him  and  his  nation."  ....  "Hamilton,  sensible  of  the  advantage 
they  have  got,  is  urging  a  full  appeal  by  the  government  to  the 
people.  Such  an  explosion  would  manifestly  endanger  a  disso- 
lution of  the  friendship  between  the  two  nations,  and  ought 
therefore  to  be  deprecated  by  every  friend  to  our  liberty;  and 
none  but  an  enemy  to  it  would  wish  to  avail  himself  of  the  in- 
discretions of  an  individual  to  compromit  two  nations  esteeming 
each  other  ardently.  It  will  prove  that  the  agents  of  the  two 
people  are  either  great  bunglers  or  great  rascals,  when  they 
cannot  preserve  that  peace  which  is  the  universal  wish  of 
both.— 

"The  situation  of  the  St.  Domingo  fugitives,  (aristocrats  as  they 
are,)  calls  aloud  for  pity  and  charity.  Never  was  so  deep  a  tragedy 
presented  to  the  feelings  of  men.  I  deny  the  power  of  the  ge- 
neral government  to  apply  money  to  such  a  purpose,  but  I  deny 
it  with  a  bleeding  heart.  It  belongs  to  the  state  governments. 


446  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

Pray  urge  ours  to  be  liberal."  He  then  ventures  on  a  prophe- 
cy, which  recent  events  seem  likely  to  realize  much  sooner 
than  could  have  been  then  expected.  "I  become  daily  more 
and  more  convinced  that  all  the  West  India  islands  will  remain 
in  the  hands  of  the  people  of  colour,  and  a  total  expulsion  of 
the  whites,  sooner  or  later,  take  place." 

Extract  of  a  letter  to  James  Madison,  dated  August  11,  1793. 

"I  believe  it  will  be  true  wisdom  in  the  republican  par- 
ty to  approve  unequivocally  of  a  state  of  neutrality;  to  avoid 
little  cavils  about  who  should  declare  it;  to  abandon  Genet  en- 
tirely, with  expressions  of  strong  friendship  and  adherence  to  his 
nation,  and  confidence  that  he  has  acted  against  their  sense.  In 
this  way  we  shall  keep  the  people  on  our  side,  by  keeping  our- 
selves in  the  right.  They  made  the  establishment  of  the 
democratic  society  here  the  ground  for  sounding  the  alarm  that 
this  society,  (which  they  considered  as  the  antifederal  and  dis- 
contented faction,)  was  put  into  motion  by  Mr.  Genet,  and  would 
by  their  corresponding  societies,  in  all  the  states,  draw  the  mass 
of  the  people,  by  dint  of  misinformation,  into  their  vortex,  and 
overset  the  government.  The  president  was  strongly  impress- 
ed by  this  picture,  drawn  by  Hamilton,  in  three  speeches  of 
three-quarters  of  an  hour's  length  each.  I  opposed  it  totally; 
told  the  president  plainly,  in  their  presence,  that  the  intention 
was  to  dismount  him  from  being  the  head  of  the  nation,  and 
make  him  the  head  of  a  party:  that  this  would  be  the  effect  of 
making  him,  in  an  appeal  to  the  people,  declare  war  against 
the  republican  party.  R ,  according  to  his  half-way  sys- 
tem between  wrong  and  right,  urged  the  putting  off"  the  appeal. 
The  president  came  into  his  idea,  or  rather  concluded  that  the 
question  on  it  might  be  put  off  indefinitely,  to  be  governed  by 
events.  If  the  demonstrations  of  popular  adherence  to  him  be- 
come as  general  and  as  warm  as  I  believe  they  will,  I  think  he 
will  never  again  bring  on  the  question:  if  there  is  an  appear- 
ance of  their  supporting  Genet,  he  will  probably  make  the  ap- 
peal.   is  the  poorest  creature  I  ever  saw,  having  no 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSOX.  447 

colour  of  his  own,  and  reflecting  that  nearest  to  him.  When 
he  is  with  me,  he  is  a  whig,  when  with  Hamilton,  he  is  a  tory, 
when  he  is  with  the  president,  he  is  what  he  thinks  will  please 
him.*  ....  The  president  always  acquiesces  in  the  majority. 

"You  ask  the  sense  of  France  with  regard  to  the  defensive 
quality  of  the  guarantee.  I  know  it  no  otherwise  than  from 
Genet.  His  doctrine  is,  that  without  waiting  to  be  called  on — 
without  waiting  'till  the  islands  were  attacked,  the  moment 
France  was  engaged  in  a  war,  it  was  our  duty  to  fly  to  arms  as 
a  nation,  and  the  duty  of  every  one  to  do  it  as  an  individual. 
He  insisted  much  on  Henfield'sf  counsel  (who  were  engaged 
and  paid  by  him,)  defending  Henfield  on  this  ground,  but  they 
had  more  sense." 

Extract  of  a  letter  to  James  Madison,  dated  Sept.  1,  1793. 

"His  [Genet's]  conduct  has  given  room  for  the  enemies 

of  liberty  and  of  France  to  come  forward  in  a  state  of  acrimo- 
ny against  that  nation  which  they  never  would  [otherwise]  have 
dared  to  have  done.  The  disapprobation  of  the  agent  mingles 
with  the  reprehension  of  his  nation,  and  gives  a  toleration  to 
that  which  it  never  had  before.  He  has  still  some  defenders  in 
Freneau  and  Greenleaf 's  paper.  Who  they  are,  I  know  not, 
for  even  Hutcheson  and  Dallas  give  him  up."  ....  "You  will 
see  much  said  and  gainsayed  about  Genet's  threat  to  appeal  to 
the  people.J  I  can  assure  you  it  is  a  fact." 

*  The  individual  here  alluded  to  was  characterized  by  that  great  mas- 
ter of  bitter  sarcasm,  John  Randolph,  as  "the  chameleon  on  the  aspen— 
always  trembling,  always  changing."  He  had,  however,  many  private 
virtues. 

f  Henfield  was  an  American  citizen,  who  having  entered  on  board  a 

French  privateer,  then  fitting  out  of  Charleston,  was,  by  the  advice  of 

the  attorney-general,  arrested,  and  prosecuted  in  the  federal  court  of 

Pennsylvania.    He  was  acquitted  by  the  jury  on  the  ground  that  be  was 

|  not  aware  of  the  unlawfulness  of  his  undertaking. 

J  Mr.  Genet,  as  we  have  seen,  uttered  this  insolent  threat  when  Mr. 
j  Dallas  applied  to  him  to  detain  the  Little  Democrat.  The  fact  having 
I  soon  obtained  publicity,  the  federal  prints  were  not  slow  in  profiting  by 
i  it  to  arouse  the  indignation  of  the  people;  and  their  opponents,  with  that 


448  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

It  appears  from  the  preceding  extracts  that  Mr.  Jefferson, 
with  all  his  partiality  for  France,  and  his  lively  hopes  of  the 
final  triumph  of  civil  liberty  in  that  country,  steered  clear  of 
the  errors  of  many  of  his  party  in  wishing  the  United  States  to 
engage  in  the  war.  and  in  apologising  for  the  misconduct  of  Ge- 
net; and  that  he  endeavoured  to  impress  his  own  just  views  of 
the  true  interests  of  his  country  on  the  minds  of  his  most  intimate 
friends.  It  further  appears  from  his  diary,  that  in  the  cabinet, 
he  laboured  to  distinguish  between  Mr.  Genet  and  his  nation, 
and  to  defend  the  rights  and  dignity  of  the  United  States 
against  the  arrogant  pretensions  of  the  minister,  without  suffer- 
ing them  to  interrupt  the  harmony  between  the  two  nations: 
while  his  great  rival  and  antagonist  was  desirous  of  so  using 
them  as  to  alienate  the  Americans  from  their  attachment  to 
France  and  her  cause,  partly  from  the  apprehended  evils  of 
French  influence,  and  partly  to  favour  that  close  connexion 
with  Great  Britain,  which  was  so  propitious  to  his  views  of  poli- 
cy at  home. 

At  a  cabinet  consultation  which  took  place  early  in  August, 
concerning  the  course  proper  to  be  pursued  towards  Mr.  Ge- 
net, it  was  unanimously  agreed  to  send  to  the  American  minis- 
ter at  Paris  a  full  statement  of  Genet's  conduct,  to  be  commu- 
nicated to  the  French  government,  and  accompanied  with  a 
request  for  his  recall.  Mr.  Jefferson  wished  the  request  to  be 
expressed  "with  great  delicacy,"  but  the  others  were  "for  pe- 
remptory terms."  It  was  also  agreed  to  send  Genet  a  copy  of 
the  letter  to  Mr.  Morris;  but  Mr.  Jefferson  objected  to  this,  be- 
cause he  thought  "it  would  render  him  extremely  active  in  his 
plans,  and  endanger  confusion."  It  was  also  proposed  by  Colo- 
nel Hamilton  that  the  whole  correspondence  and  proceedings 

perversion  of  judgment,  as  well  as  of  right  feeling,  into  which  party  zeal 
so  often  betrays  its  votaries,  ventured  to  deny  the  fact,  and  to  justify  it, 
even  if  it  were  true.  It  was  soon  established  beyond  question,  by  the  cer- 
tificate of  Mr.  King  and  Mr.  Jay,  on  information  derived  partly  from  Mr. 
Jefferson  himself.  A  majority  promptly  resented  the  insult  to  its  chief 
magistrate;  and  in  this  way  the  misjudging  zeal  of  the  French  minister 
injured  the  cause  of  his  own  country,  and  the  party  in  America  who  be- 
friended it. 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  449 

with  Genet  should  be  published  hy  way  of  appeal  to  the  people; 
but  this  question,  after  some  opposition  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Ran- 
dolph, was  adjourned  to  the  following  day.  The  discussion 
was  then  renewed,  when  Colonel  Hamilton  in  again  pressing  the 
appeal,  laid  great  stress  on  the  necessity  of  counteracting  the 
Democratic  Society,  which  had  been  recently  established  in  Phi- 
ladelphia, and  which  it  was  apprehended,  would,  in  imitation  of 
the  Jacobin  clubs  of  France,  extend  its  connexions  to  every 
part  of  the  country.  Mr.  Jefferson  opposed  the  appeal.  He 
maintained  that  the  Democratic  Societies  of  Pennsylvania 
afforded  no  good  cause  of  alarm:  they  were  chiefly  intended  to 
influence  the  approaching  election  of  governor  in  that  state; 
and  if  left  alone  they  would  die  of  themselves,  but  if  opposed, 
they  would  acquire  importance.  He  urged  that  by  the  appeal, 
the  president  would  "assume  the  station  of  the  head  of  a  party, 
instead  of  the  head  of  the  nation;"  that  the  cabinet,  though 
agreed  as  to  the  facts,  were  not  agreed  as  to  the  character  of 
some  of  their  decisions;  that  these  differences  would  be  extend- 
ed to  the  public,  and  to  Congress;  that  Genet  would  appeal  also, 
and  it  would  become  a  contest  between  him  and  the  president 
He  lastly  insisted  that  the  measure  would  be  as  mischievous 
abroad  as  at  home;  that  friendly  nations  settle  little  differences 
in  private,  and  "never  appeal  to  the  world,  but  when  they  ap- 
peal to  the  sword;"  that  there  was  no  evidence  that  Genet  act- 
ed here  in  pursuance  of  what  her  enemies  alleged  to  be  the  set- 
tled system  of  her  government;  that  our  countenance  to  that 
imputation  would  be  considered  unfriendly  towards  France,  and 
producing  a  correspondent  feeling  on  her  part,  would  at  least 
induce  her  to  retract  her  offer  of  a  commercial  treaty.* 

The  president  was  inclined  to  make  the  appeal,  but  finding 
his  cabinet  equally  divided  on  the  question,  he  determined  to 
make  no  decision  respecting  it  at  that  time,  but  to  be  govern- 
ed by  subsequent  events. 

The  yellow  fever  which  visited  Philadelphia  this  year,  for 

*  This  offer  had  been  communicated  by  Mr.  Genet,  in  a  letter  to  the 
Secretary  of  State,  dated  Sept,  30,  nw.-WaiVs  State  Papers,  I.  p.  410. 
VOL.  I.— 57 


450  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

some  time  suspended  the  consultations  of  the  cabinet;  for  the 
pestilence  being  believed  to  be  infectious,  all  the  chief  officers 
of  the  government  had,  in  the  interval,  fled  from  the  city,*  and 
did  not  reassemble  until  the  beginning  of  November.  They 
then  met  in  Germantown,  near  Philadelphia,  and  there  remain- 
ed until  the  end  of  the  month. 

At  the  first  conference  of  the  cabinet  in  Germantown,  on  the 
8th  of  November,  the  president,  while  the  answer  to  one  of  Ge- 
net's letters  was  under  consideration,  took  occasion  to  animad- 
vert on  his  extraordinary  conduct,  and  to  remark  that  he  meant 
to  submit  the  question  whether  he  should  not  be  ordered  away. 
Hamilton  and  Knox  were  decidedly  in  favour  of  his  dismission. 
The  latter  had  indeed  proposed  it  at  a  conference  in  August. 
Randolph  urged  considerations  of  policy  against  it,  and  the  de- 
cision was  supended. 

The  subject  was  resumed  at  a  meeting  on  the  18th,  and  the 
renvoi  of  Genet  was  proposed  by  the  president  himself.  Mr. 
Jefferson  urged  in  opposition,  that  "France  was  the  only  nation 
on  earth  sincerely  our  friend;"  that  the  measure  was  a  harsh 
one,  and,  in  every  precedent  produced,  had  been  followed  by 
war.  That  from  the  time  the  despatches  to  Mr.  Morris  had  left 
the  United  States,  (84  days,)  they  might  hourly  look  for  his  re- 
call; that  before  the  measure  could  be  finally  disposed  of,  it 

*  The  disease,  now  first  designated  the  yellow  fever,  began  early  in 
August,  and  terminated  early  in  November.  In  that  time  there  were 
4,044  deaths,  which,  after  deducting  the  average  number  in  ordinary 
years,  makes  the  number  of  victims  to  the  pestilence  about  3,800.  In  the 
second  week  in  October,  when  the  disease  was  at  its  height,  the  number 
of  deaths  exceeded  700.  The  population  of  Philadelphia  was  then  about 
50,000,  of  whom  one-third  were  computed  to  have  left  the  city. 

Mr.  Jefferson  was  the  last  of  the  cabinet  who  left  the  city,  except  Colo- 
nel Hamilton,  who  was  attacked  by  the  fever.  He  writes  to  a  friend, 
early  in  September,  "I  would  really  go  away,  because  I  think  there  is 
rational  danger,  but  that  I  had  before  announced  that  I  should  not  go  'till 
the  beginning  of  October,  and  I  do  not  like  to  exhibit  the  appearance  of 
panic.  Besides,  I  think  there  might  be  serious  ills  proceed  from  there 
not  being  a  single  member  of  the  administration  in  place."  But  the  ma- 
lignity of  the  disease  increasing,  he  also  fled;  not,  however,  as  appears 
from  his  last  letter,  dated  Sept.  17th,  "until  he  had  cleared  his  letter 
files,"  and  left  not  a  single  correspondent  unanswered. 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  451 

would  be  within  a  few  days  of  the  meeting  of  the  new  Congress, 
and  though  they  were  probably  now  with  the  administration, 
this  measure  might  carry  a  portion  of  them  over  to  Genet's 
side;  and  that  he  might  not  obey  the  order.  "The  president 
then  asked  Mr.  Jefferson  what  he  would  do  if  Genet  should  send 
his  threatened  accusation  to  the  executive,  to  be  communicated 
to  Congress;  to  which  he  replied,  that  he  would  not  communi- 
cate it,  but  either  put  it  in  the  newspapers,  or  send  it  back  to 
the  minister.  The  cabinet  being  also  divided  on  this  question, 
the  president  left  it  undecided,  according  to  what  seems  to  have 
been  his  practice,  in  such  cases,  whenever  a  decision  was  not 
urgently  required. 

If  the  war  in  which  France  was  involved  gave  rise  to  embar- 
rassing questions  between  that  nation  and  the  United  States,  it 
also  greatly  added  to  the  long  list  of  mutual  complaints  which 
previously  existed  between  them  and  Great  Britain. 

On  the  part  of  that  nation  it  was  contended  that  the  French 
were  allowed  to  do  certain  acts  which  were  inconsistent  with 
the  neutral  position  of  the  United  States,  many  of  which  have 
been  already  adverted  to,  in  noticing  the  occasions  of  complaint 
against  Mr.  Genet.  The  United  States,  on  the  other  hand,  com- 
plained that  they  were  not  allowed  to  exercise  the  rights  to 
which  neutrals  were  entitled  under  the  laws  of  nations. 

Of  this  character  they  held  the  British  order  in  council  of  the 
8th  of  June,  1793,  which  under  the  title  of  "additional  instruc- 
tions to  British  ships  of  war,"  authorized  them  to  stop  all  vessels 
loaded  with  grain,  and  bound  for  France;  and  to  send  them  into 
the  most  convenient  port,  in  order  that  their  cargoes  might  be 
purchased  by  the  government;  to  seize  all  ships  attempting  to 
enter  ports  declared  to  be  blockaded,  except  Danish  and  Swedish 
vessels,  which  were  to  be  seized  only  on  a  second  attempt.  And 
it  further  provided,  that  any  vessel  which  appeared  from  their 
papers  bound  to  a  blockaded  port,  should  be  admonished  to  pro- 
ceed to  other  ports,  but  if  they  continued  their  course  with  a 
view  of  entering  the  blockaded  port,  they  should  be  liable  to 
condemnation,  as  should  also  all  those  vessels  which  had  sailed 


452  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSOX. 

for  a  port  declared  blockaded,  after  the  declaration  had  been 
known  in  the  country  from  which  they  sailed. 

On  the  7th  of  September,  Mr.  Jefferson  wrote  to  Mr.  Pinck- 
ney,  the  American  minister,  to  enter  into  explanations  with  the 
British  government  on  the  subject  of  this  order,  which  he  consi- 
ders as  clearly  violating  the  law  of  nations,  and  to  endeavour 
to  obtain  a  revocation  of  it,  as  well  as  indemnification  for  our 
citizens  who  had  suffered  under  it.  Adverting  then  to  their 
backwardness  in  answering  any  applications  from  the  United 
States,  Mr.  Jefferson  remarks:  "it  may  become  unavoidable  in 
certain  cases,  where  an  answer  of  some  sort  is  necessary,  to 
consider  their  silence  as  an  answer — perhaps  this  is  their  inten- 
tion— still,  however,  desirous  of  furnishing  no  colour  of  offence, 
we  do  not  wish  you  to  name  to  them  any  term  for  giving  an 
answer."  The  minister  was  also  required  to  ask  an  explana- 
tion of  the  distinction  in  favour  of  Danish  and  Swedish  vessels. 

On  the  12th  of  the  same  month,  Mr.  Hammond  sent  to  Mr. 
Jefferson  a  copy  of  the  same  "additional  instruction,"  or  order 
in  council,  with  some  remarks  in  its  justification,  as  that  accord- 
ing to  the  "most  modern  writers,"  on  the  law  of  nations,  all 
provisions  are  contraband,  "where  the  depriving  an  enemy  of 
these  supplies,  is  one  of  the  means  intended  to  be  employed  for 
reducing  him  to  reasonable  terms  of  peace;"  that  the  actual 
situation  of  France  and  her  avowed  principles  of  hostility  against 
all  the  governments  of  Europe  made  the  principle  particularly 
applicable  to  the  present  case;  and  especially  as  the  trade  was 
then  carried  on  by  the  ruling  powers  of  France;  that  the  order 
in  council,  instead  of  declaring  all  provisions  contraband,  as  the 
preceding  considerations  would  have  warranted,  extends  only 
to  com,  and  even  in  intercepting  this,  secures  to  the  neutral 
owner  full  indemnification.  He  also  explains  the  discrimina- 
tion in  favour  of  Denmark  and  Sweden,  by  referring  it  to  the 
treaties  between  those  powers  and  Great  Britain. 

Mr.  Jefferson  replied  to  Mr.  Hammond  on  the  22nd  of  Sep- 
tember, and  after  adverting  in  strong  terms  to  the  serious  bear- 
ing the  British  order  had  on  the  agriculture  and  commerce  of  the 
United  States,  he  says  that  the  principle  which  declares  pro- 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  453 

visions  contraband  in  the  case  stated  by  Mr.  Hammond,  "or  in 
any  case  but  that  of  a  place  actually  blockaded,"  is  "entirely 
new;"  but  that  the  American  minister  at  London  having  been 
instructed  to  make  a  proper  representation  on  the  subject,  he 
declined  a  discussion  of  it  at  that  time.  He  refers  to  the  right 
claimed  by  Great  Britain  to  refuse  to  the  United  States  what 
was  yielded  to  the  other  neutral  powers  by  treaty,  and  says  he 
does  not  contest  it,  as  a  reciprocal  right  resulted  to  the  United 
States. 

The  same  subject  had  given  rise  to  a  correspondence  between 
Mr.  Pinckney  and  Lord  Grenville,  in  which  the  ministers  of  the 
two  countries  asserted  the  same  doctrines  and  arguments  as 
their  respective  colleagues  urged  in  the  United  States. 

To  this  cause  of  irritation  was  added  that  of  impressment,  of 
which  there  had  been  occasions  of  complaint  before  the  present 
war,  but  which  that  event  had  greatly  multiplied.  In  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson's despatch  to  Mr.  Pinckney  of  October  12, 1792,  he  men- 
tions a  case  in  which  the  commander  of  a  British  ship  had 
taken  sailors  from  a  vessel  belonging  to  Virginia,  while  off  the 
coast  of  Africa.  He  remarks,  "so  many  instances  of  this  kind 
have  happened,  that  it  is  quite  necessary  that  their  government 
should  explain  themselves  on  the  subject;  and  be  led  to  disavow 
and  punish  such  conduct.  I  leave  to  your  discretion  to  endeav- 
our to  obtain  this  satisfaction  by  such  friendly  discussions  as 
may  be  most  likely  to  produce  the  desired  effect,  and  secure  to 
our  commerce  that  protection  against  British  violence,  which 
it  has  never  required  from  any  other  nation.  No  law  forbids 
the  seamen  of  any  country  to  engage  in  time  of  peace,  on  board 
a  foreign  vessel:  no  law  authorizes  such  seaman  to  break  his 
contract,  nor  the  armed  vessels  of  his  nation  to  interfere  for  his 
rescue." 

In  the  instructions  given  to  Mr.  Pinckney,  when  setting  out 
on  his  mission,  Mr.  Jefferson  had  thus  called  his  especial  atten- 
tion to  this  subject:  "the  peculiar  custom  in  England  of  impress- 
ing seamen  on  every  appearance  of  war,  will  expose  our  sea- 
men to  peculiar  oppressions  and  vexations.  These  will  require 
your  most  active  exertions  and  protection,  which  we  know  can- 


454  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

not  be  effectual  without  incurring  considerable  expense;  and  as 
no  law  has  yet  provided  for  this,  we  think  it  fairer  to  take  the  risk 
of  it  on  the  executive  than  to  leave  it  on  your  shoulders."  .... 
"It  will  be  expedient  that  you  take  proper  opportunities,  in  the 
meantime,  of  conferring  with  the  minister  on  the  subject,  in 
order  to  form  some  arrangement  for  the  protection  of  our  sea- 
men on  these  occasions.  We  entirely  reject  the  mode  which 
was  the  subject  of  a  conversation  between  Mr.  Morris  and  him, 
which  was,  that  our  seamen  should  always  carry  about  them 
certificates  of  their  citizenship.  This  is  a  condition  never  to  be 
submitted  to  by  any  nation;  one  with  which  seamen  would  ne- 
ver have  the  precaution  to  comply.  The  casualties  of  their 
calling  would  expose  them  to  the  constant  destruction  or  loss  of 
this  paper  evidence;  and  thus  the  British  government  would  be 
armed  with  legal  authority  to  impress  the  whole  of  our  seamen. 
The  simplest  rule  will  be,  that  the  vessel  being  American,  shall 
be  evidence  that  all  on  board  her  are  such.  If  they  apprehend 
that  our  vessels  might  thus  become  asylums  for  the  fugitives  of 
their  own  nation  from  impress-gangs,  the  number  of  men  to  be 
protected  by  a  vessel,  may  be  limited  by  her  tonnage,  and  one 
or  two  officers  only  be  permitted  to  enter  the  vessel,  in  order  to 
examine  the  numbers  on  board;  but  no  press-gang  should  be 
allowed  ever  to  go  on  board  an  American  vessel,  'till  after  it 
shall  be  found  that  there  are  more  than  their  stipulated  num- 
ber on  board;  nor  'till  after  the  master  shall  have  refused  to  de- 
liver the  supernumeraries,  (to  be  named  by  himself,)  to  the 
press  officer  who  has  come  on  board  for  that  purpose;  and  even 
then,  the  American  consul  should  be  called  in." 

The  subject  was  again  pressed  on  the  minister's  notice  in  Mr. 
Jefferson's  letter  of  March  16, 1793,  and  referring  to  the  ground 
on  which  the  British  minister  sought  to  justify  the  practice  to 
Mr.  Pinckney,  he  remarks,  that  while  he  "regarded  so  minute- 
ly the  inconveniences  to  themselves  which  may  result  from  a  due 
regulation  of  this  practice,  it  was  just  he  should  regard  our  in- 
conveniences also,  from  the  want  of  it." 

In  another  letter  to  Mr.  Pinckney  of  June  14,  1793,  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson refers  to  his  correspondence  with  the  English  and  French 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  455 

ministers,  to  show  the  principles  of  impartial  neutrality  on 
which  the  government  meant  to  proceed.  He  defends  the 
course  taken  by  the  executive  as  to  the  prizes  made  by  the 
Citizen  Genet,  and  excuses  the  blank  commissions  delivered  to 
Mr.  Genet,  by  his  government,  and  issued  by  him  in  the  United 
States,  as  according  to  the  settled  usage  of  France,  and  perhaps 
of  other  nations.  He  then  takes  occasion  to  notice  the  impa- 
tience manifested  by  Mr.  Hammond,  when  he  does  not  receive 
an  immediate  answer  to  his  communications,  and  adds,  "you 
know  best  how  far  your  applications  meet  with  such  early  at- 
tentions, and  whether  you  may  with  propriety  claim  a  return 
of  them:  you  can  best  judge  of  an  intimation,  that  where 
despatch  is  not  reciprocal,  it  may  be  expedient  and  justifiable 
that  delay  should  be  so." 

The  French  government  had  also  invaded  the  rights  of  the 
neutral  flag,  and  indeed  seemed*  to  have  set  the  example.  On 
the  9th  of  May,  1793,  the  National  Convention  issued  a  decree, 
authorizing  their  armed  vessels  to  seize,  and  carry  into  port  all 
neutral  vessels  laden  with  provisions  and  bound  to  an  enemy's 
port,  or  having  on  board  merchandise  belonging  to  an  enemy. 
Such  merchandise  was  declared  lawful  prize;  but  provisions, 
when  the  property  of  neutrals,  were  to  be  paid  for  at  the  price 
they  would  have  brought  in  the  port  to  which  they  were  bound. 
Neutral  vessels  were  to  be  immediately  released,  after  the  pro- 
visions were  landed;  and  to  receive  their  stipulated  freight,  as 
well  as  compensation  for  detention. 

This  decree  being  in  direct  violation  of  the  treaty  with  the 
United  States,  it  became  the  immediate  subject  of  remonstrance 
on  the  part  of  Mr.  Gouverneur  Morrisjf  and  the  convention  on 
the  23d  of  May,  decreed  that  the  vessels  of  the  United  States, 
conformably  to  the  treaty  of  1778,  were  not  comprehended  in 


*  I  use  the  word  "seemed,"  because  the  French  deny  that  they  were 
the  first  to  invade  the  rights  of  neutrals,  and  justify  the  decree  of  the  9th 
of  May,  by  the  special  provisions  respecting  neutrals  in  the  treaties  made 
by  Great  Britain  with  Russia  on  the  25th  of  March,  1793— See  Debretfs 
State  Papers,  Vol.  I.  p.  3. 

t  Life  of  G.  Morris,  Vol.  II.  p.  319. 


456  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

the  decree  of  the  9th.  With  that  fluctuation  in  their  councils, 
which  was  so  characteristic  of  the  times,  the  decree  of  the  23d 
was  revoked  five  days  afterwards;  but,  on  a  second  remonstrance 
from  Mr.  Morris,  was  renewed  on  the  1st  of  July.  It  was,  how- 
ever, again  revoked  on  the  27th  of  that  month,  and  thus  the 
original  decree  of  the  9th  of  May  remained  in  full  force  against 
all  neutrals. 

It  seems  reasonable  to  infer  that  this  decree  had  suggested 
the  British  order  of  the  8th  of  June,  yet  it  is  remarkable  that  it 
is  not  mentioned  or  alluded  to  either  by  Lord  Grenville  in  his 
correspondence  with  Mr.  Pinckney,  or  by  Mr.  Hammond  in  his 
with  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  that  it  is  not  noticed  in  the  debates  in 
parliament  or  journals  of  that  period.  As  we  cannot  suppose  it 
unknown  to  the  British  ministry,  it  seems  probable  that  they 
preferred  resting  the  justification  of  a  principle,  which  was  like- 
ly to  prove  so  much  more  advantageous  to  them  than  to  their 
enemy,  on  the  permanent  ground  of  the  law  of  nations,  rather 
than  on  the  French  decree,  which  might  be  revoked  at  any 
time. 

Mr.  Morris,  who  had  duly  informed  his  government  of  these 
measures  of  the  French  republic,  writes  to  Mr.  Jefferson,  on 
the  22nd  of  September,  that  he  understood  the  decree  of  the 
27th  of  July  was  to  be  repealed;  and  that  in  the  meantime,  "it 
had  not  been  transmitted  to  the  tribunals."  "We  shall  see  in  effect, 
he  adds,  that  this  decree  can  do  very  little  harm,  because  the 
fleets  of  the  country  are  confined  by  those  of  the  enemy,  and 
the  privateers  by  a  decree  of  the  convention."* 

Again  adverting  to  this  subject,  on  the  10th  of  October,  he 
remarks:  "The  conduct  of  the  convention,  respecting  our  treaty, 
will  have  formed  a  useful  reinforcement  to  those  who  would 
preserve  our  constitution.  My  efforts  to  support  the  treaty  have 
been  constant  and  persevering,  although,  in  my  private  judg- 
ment, the  breach  of  it,  on  the  part  of  our  allies,  by  releasing  us 
from  the  obligations  it  has  imposed,  could  not  but  be  useful,  un- 
der the  present  circumstances." 

*  Life  of  G.  Morris,  II.  p.  354. 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  457 

On  the  14th  of  October,  the  minister  of  foreign  affairs,  in  an- 
swer to  the  complaints  of  Mr.  Morris,  excuses  the  course  pur- 
sued by  France  towards  neutrals,  as  a  mode  of  necessary  retalia- 
tion on  their  enemies;  and  says  it  would  continue  as  long  as  those 
enemies  resorted  to  unlawful  measures  against  France.  He  re- 
marks that  the  decree  of  the  9th  of  May  was  conditional,*  while 
the  correspondent  measuresf  of  the  combined  powers  were  posi- 
tive; and  that  it  was  in  their  power  to  put  a  period  to  the  exe- 
cution of  the  French  decree  by  permitting  neutral  nations  to 
trade  with  France. 

When  the  despatches  from  Mr.  Morris,  communicating  the 
preceding  intelligence,  reached  the  United  States,  the  adminis- 
tration then  first  distinctly  learntj  that  it  was  the  settled  policy 
of  the  French  government  to  disregard  the  provisions  of  the 
treaty  with  the  United  States,  and  to  justify  themselves,  under 
the  plea  of  self-defence.  The  subject  was  therefore  formally 
communicated  to  Congress  by  the  president  immediately  after 
they  assembled. 

The  French  decree  was  certainly  indefensible,  as  it  violated 
an  express  provision  of  the  treaty  of  1778,  of  which  France  had 
actually  availed  herself  by  making  prizes  of  American  merchan- 
dise taken  in  British  vessels.  But,  besides  that  it  provided  a 
more  complete  indemnification  to  neutrals  than  the  British  or- 
der, a  decree  which  had  been. repeatedly  suspended,  and  which 
France  had  such  slender  means  of  enforcing,  was  naturally  re- 

*  The  condition  here  referred  to  appears  in  no  notice  of  it  that  I  have  met 
with.  If  it  existed  at  all,  it  must  have  been  in  the  form  of  a  preamble,  or 
perhaps  in  the  declarations  of  those  members  of  the  convention  who  were 
its  advocates  in  debate. 

f  All  those  measures,  except  the  treaty  between  Great  Britain  and 
Russia,  appear  to  have  been  subsequent  to  the  French  decree;  yet  Mr. 
Morris,  in  his  despatches  of  Feb.  13, 1793,  says,  "It  is  not  improbable  that 
our  vessels,  bringing  provisions  to  France,  may  be  captured  and  taken 
into  England,  the  cargoes  paid  for  by  the  government." 

I  The  decrees  of  the  9th  of  May,  and  that  of  the  23d,  exempting  the 
United  States  from  its  operation,  were  first  communicated  to  the  Ame- 
rican government  by  Mr.  Genet  on  the  27th  of  September,  1793,  and 
without  any  notice  of  the  subsequent  re-euactments  of  it.—  Waifs  State 
Papers,  Vol.  I.  p.  421. 
VOL.  I.— 58 


458  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

garded  very  differently  by  the  American  government  and  peo- 
ple from  one  which  was  put  into  efficient  operation  to  vex  their 
commerce  and  sailors  in  every  sea.* 

While  the  yellow  fever  was  at  its  height,  the  president  had 
consulted  the  members  of  his  cabinet  on  the  propriety  of  con- 
vening Congress  at  some  other  place  than  Philadelphia.  Mr. 
Jefferson  wrote  to  him  on  the  15th  of  September,  that  he 
thought  he  had  not  the  power  under  the  constitution  to  convene 
them  at  any  other  place  than  that  to  which  they  had  adjourn- 
ed themselves.  Fortunately,  however,  the  disappearance  of 
the  disease  made  the  decision  unnecessary,  and  the  cabinet  re- 
assembled in  November,  when  the  near  approach  of  the  meet- 
ing of  Congress  presented,  as  usual,  for  the  deliberations  of  the 
cabinet,  the  interesting  subject  of  the  president's  communica- 
tion to  that  body. 

Among  the  topics  in  the  speech  which  afforded  occasion  for 
difference  in  the  cabinet,  the  most  important  was  the  proclama- 
tion of  neutrality.  At  the  consultation  held  on  the  18th  of  No- 
vember, Colonel  Hamilton  maintained  that  the  president  had  a 
right  to  declare  his  opinion  to  our  citizens  and  to  the  world; 
that  it  was  not  our  interest,  and  we  were  under  no  obligation  to 
join  in  the  war;  that  foreign  nations  had  considered  it  as  a  de- 
claration of  neutrality,  future  as  well  as  present;  and  to  say  now 


*  When  we  consider  the  difference  of  injury  received  from  the  two  na- 
tions, which  amounted  almost  to  that  between  impotent  threats  and 
blows  frequent  and  severe,  it  seems  hardly  fair  to  attribute  the  greater 
sensibility  shown  to  the  measures  of  Great  Britain,  to  the  undue  forbear- 
ance of  the  administration  and  people  towards  France;  yet  such  is  the 
implied  censure  in  the  following  passage  in  Marshall's  Life  of  Washing- 
ton: 

"The  earnestness,  as  well  as  force  with  which  the  argument  against 
this  measure  was  pressed  on  the  British  cabinet,  and  the  extreme  irrita- 
tion it  produced  on  the  public  mind,  contrasted  with  the  silence  of  the 
executive,  respecting  a  much  more  exceptionable  decree  of  the  National 
Convention,  and  the  composure  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  under 
that  decree,  exhibits  a  striking  proof  of  the  difference  with  which  not  only 
the  people,  but  an  administration  which  the  frenzy  of  the  day  accused  of 
partiality  to  England,  contemplated  at  that  time  the  measures  of  the  two 
nations."— Vol.  V.  note  xi. 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  459 

that  it  was  not  meant  to  give  that  assurance,  would  be  a  de- 
ception on  them.  He  was  therefore  in  favour  of  the  "president's 
using  such  expressions  as  should  neither  affirm  his  right  to  make 
such  a  declaration,  nor  yield  it,"  Mr.  Jefferson  and  Mr.  Ran- 
dolph denied  the  right  of  the  president  to  declare  any  thing  as 
to  the  future,  on  the  question  of  war  or  peace;  or  that  such  had 
been  the  intention  of  the  proclamation;  and  they  insisted  that 
Hamilton's  interpretation  of  it  would  make  it  determine  the 
question  of  guarantee,  to  which  the  president  was  incompetent. 
Mr.  Jefferson  went  farther,  and  denied  he  meant  to  declare  that 
neutrality  would  be  our  interest;  on  the  contrary,  he  wished 
foreign  nations  to  be  doubtful  on  this  point,  that  they  might 
"come  and  bid  for  our  neutrality."  The  president  disclaimed 
any  intention  of  looking  beyond  the  next  meeting  of  Congress, 
or  any  object  beyond  keeping  the  people  in  peace.  He  justified 
himself  for  using  the  term  "neutrality"  in  his  answers  to  the 
public  addresses  which  the  occasion  had  called  forth,  on  the 
ground  that  he  had  submitted  the  first  of  them  to  his  cabinet, 
and  the  term  had  not  been  objected  to. 

The  discussion  was  renewed  three  days  afterwards,  when,  as 
had  been  previously  arranged,  paragraphs  for  the  president's 
speech,  prepared  by  Colonel  Hamilton  and  Mr.  Randolph  re- 
spectively, were  submitted  to  the  cabinet,  and  when  the  same 
grounds  were  taken  by  the  several  members  as  before.  It  was 
even  maintained  by  Hamilton  that  the  president  and  senate 
might,  under  the  treaty  making  power,  make  a  treaty  of  neu- 
trality which  should  take  from  Congress  the  right  to  declare 
war;  and  that  under  the  form  of  treaty,  they  might  exercise 
any  power  whatever,  even  those  exclusively  assigned  to  the 
House  of  Representatives.  Mr.  Jefferson,  on  the  other  hand, 
insisted  that  "in  giving  to  the  president  and  senate  a  power  to 
make  treaties,  the  constitution  meant  only  to  authorize  them  to 
carry  into  effect,  by  way  of  treaty,  any  powers  they  might  con- 
stitutionally exercise."  He  adds,  "I  was  sensible  of  the  weak 
points  in  this  position,  but  there  were  still  weaker  in  the  other 
hypothesis;  and  if  it  be  impossible  to  discover  a  rational  mea- 
sure of  authority  to  have  been  given  by  this  clause,  I  would 


460  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

rather  suppose  that  the  cases  which  my  hypothesis  would  leave 
unprovided,  were  not  thought  of  by  the  convention,  or  if  thought 
of,  could  not  be  agreed  on,  or  were  thought  of  and  deemed 
unnecessary  to  be  invested  in  the  government.  Of  this  last 
description,  were  treaties  of  neutrality,  treaties  offensive  and 
defensive,  &c.  In  every  event,  I  would  rather  construe  so 
narrowly  as  to  oblige  the  nation  to  amend,  and  thus  declare 
what  powers  they  would  agree  to  yield,  than  too  broadly,  and 
indeed  so  broadly  as  to  enable  the  executive  and  senate  to  do 
things  which  the  constitution  forbids."  ....  In  conclusion,  he 
was  in  favour  of  Randolph's  way  of  explaining  the  proclama- 
tion, though  "it  gave  to  that  instrument  more  objects  than  he 
had  contemplated;"  General  Knox  was  in  favour  of  Hamilton's; 
and  the  president,  repeating  his  former  declarations,  but  ex- 
pressing an  unwillingness  to  make  a  public  disclaimer,  which 
perhaps  was  unnecessary,  came  to  no  decision  between  the  two 
draughts. 

At  two  subsequent  meetings  they  discussed  the  propriety  of 
recommending  the  fortification  of  the  principal  harbours,  and 
the  establishment  of  a  military  academy.  Mr.  Jefferson  opposed 
the  first  on  the  ground  of  expediency,  and  the  last  as  not  within 
the  specific  powers  assigned  to  Congress.*  The  president  agreed 
with  him  as  to  the  fortifications;  but  all  the  other  members  of 
the  cabinet  being  in  favour  of  the  military  academy,  he  said 
that  "if  the  measure  was  doubtful,  he  was  so  impressed  with  its 
necessity  that  he  would  refer  it  to  Congress,  and  let  them  de- 
cide for  themselves"  on  its  constitutionality. 

*  Yet  when  it  is  considered  that  the  military  science  which  so  prodi- 
giously augments  the  physical  force  of  man,  is  essential  to  the  national 
defence;  that  an  adequate  supply  of  officers  instructed  in  its  precepts  can 
be  furnished  in  no  way  so  effectually  as  by  an  institution  devoted  exclu- 
sively to  their  instruction;  that  if  we  have  no  such  institutions  at 
home  we  must  be  dependent  on  foreign  countries  for  the  first  class  of  en- 
gineers and  strategists;  and  when  it  is  further  considered  that  the  duty 
of  raising  and  disciplining  armies,  erecting  fortifications  and  the  like,  is 
expressly  assigned  to  the  general  government,  it  would  seem  that  Con- 
gress may  establish  military  schools,  under  its  power  of  passing  "all  laws 
necessary  and  proper"  for  executing  the  powers  expressly  given. 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  461 

At  the  last  of  these  meetings,  the  draught  of  a  message  to  Con- 
gress on  the  subject  of  France  and  England  prepared  by  Mr. 
Jefferson,  was  submitted  to  the  cabinet.  It  was  not  relished  by 
Colonel  Hamilton,  who  said  that  "the  contrast  drawn  between 
the  conduct  of  France  and  England  amounted  to  a  declaration 
of  war."  He  considered  the  favourable  dispositions  of  the  people 
of  America  towards  that  country  a  serious  calamity,  and  that 
it  ought  not  to  be  nourished  by  the  executive;  that  the  offer  of 
commercial  advantages  was  the  offspring  of  circumstances  which 
would  not  last,  and  that  he  could  prove  that  "Great  Britain 
showed  us  more  favours  than  France."  Many  expressions  in 
the  draught  were  changed  to  make  it  more  to  his  taste.  He 
also  wished  the  communication  to  be  secret,  at  least,  as  to  the 
subject  of  complaints  which  were  still  pending.  On  this  and  the 
other  points  he  was  supported  by  Knox,  and  opposed  by  Jeffer- 
son and  in  part  by  Randolph.  The  president,  however,  decided 
without  reserve,  that  the  whole  should  be  communicated  in  a 
public  message,  though  as  to  the  documents  respecting  the  pro- 
vision order  of  the  5th  of  June,  Mr.  Jefferson  stood  alone.  This, 
he  remarks,  was  the  first  instance  of  the  president's  deciding  on 
the  opinion  of  one  against  that  of  three  others. 

Congress  met  on  the  2nd  of  December,  and  on  the  following 
i  day  the  president  addressed  the  two  Houses,  in  the  senate 
!  chamber.     Two  days  afterwards  he  sent  them  a  message*  on 
the  foreign  relations  of  the  United  States,  in  which  he  commu~ 
i  nicated  to  them  the  decree  of  the  9th  of  May,  in  contravention 
I  of  the  treaty  of  1778,  and  the  recent  enforcement  of  it,  which 
should  be  immediately  made  the  subject  of  representations  to 
the  French  government;  gave  a  summary  of  the  conduct  of 
Genet,  and  the  measures  taken  by  the  executive;  the  provision 
order  of  the  British  government,  and  its  continued  failure  to 
execute  the  treaty  of  peace.     Each  of  these  subjects  were  ac- 
companied with  the  appropriate  documents,  the  most  important 
;  of  which  have  been  already  referred  to.     As  important  nego- 
tiations with  Spain  were  now  depending,  he  informed  them  they 


Wait's  State  Papers,  Vol.  I. 


462  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

would  be  the  subject  of  a  subsequent  confidential  communication. 
This  was  accordingly  made  on  the  16th.  It  regarded  all  the 
points  of  dispute  between  the  two  nations,  whether  relating  to 
boundary,  commerce,  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  the  sur- 
render of  fugitives  from  justice,  or  their  mutual  complaints  of  ex- 
citing Indian  hostilities,  and  interfering  with  Indian  boundaries, 
all  set  forth  in  numerous  documents  and  a  voluminous  corre- 
spondence, in  which  Mr.  Jefferson,  as  secretary  of  state,  bore  a 
principal  part,  and  exhibited  his  wonted  diligence,  accuracy, 
and  ability  as  a  diplomatist.*  In  another  message  was  commu- 
nicated the  papers  and  correspondence  relative  to  the  Barbary 
powers. 

On  the  same  day,  Mr.  Jefferson  made  a  reportf  to  the  House 
of  Representatives  on  the  privileges  and  restrictions  on  the 
commerce  of  the  United  States  in  foreign  countries,  in  conformi- 
ty with  a  resolution  of  that  body  on  the  23d  of  February,  1791. 
After  stating  the  amount  of  the  annual  exports  of  the  United 
States  in  their  principal  staple  products,  to  Spain,  Portugal, 
France,  Great  Britain,  the  United  Netherlands,  Denmark,  and 
Sweden,  respectively;  the  imports  from  each  of  those  countries; 
the  American  tonnage  employed  in  the  commerce  with  each; 
and  a  detailed  notice  of  the  restrictions  on  that  commerce,  the 
report  proceeds  to  consider  how  those  restrictions  "may  be  best 
removed,  modified,  or  counteracted."  Of  the  two  modes  by  treaty, 
and  by  our  own  legislative  measures,  the  first  is  deemed  most 
eligible  on  many  accounts;  but  where  that  is  unattainable  he 
recommends  a  resort  to  the  other.  The  protection  to  be  thus 
afforded  to  the  commerce  of  the  United  States  is  still  more  im- 
portant to  their  navigation,  which  is  so  essential  to  the  national 
defence.  With  a  view  to  these  objects,  he  recommends  a  series 
of  legislative  measures  which  should  retaliate  on  other  nations 
the  precise  restrictions  imposed  by  them  on  American  commerce 
or  navigation. 

This  report,  and  a  letter  to  the  Spanish  commissioners  on  the 

*  See  Wait's  State  Papers,  Vol.  X.  p.  114  to  254. 
t  Ibid.  Vol.  I.  p.  422. 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  463 

21st  of  December,  and  another  report  of  the  30th,  transmitting 
a  decree  of  the  National  Convention  in  favour  of  American 
commerce,  were  his  last  official  acts  as  Secretary  of  State;  for 
the  time  had  now  arrived  when  he  was  to  execute  his  long  in- 
tended purpose  of  withdrawing  from  public  life. 

Though  Mr.  Jefferson's  resignation  of  his  office  had  been  from 
time  to  time  postponed,  his  purpose  of  resigning  had  never 
wavered,  and  it  required  all  the  efforts  of  his  adherents  and 
friends  to  induce  him  even  to  suspend  it.  One  of  the  principal 
arguments  they  had  relied  upon,  was,  that  to  retire  when  his 
character  was  assailed  in  the  newspapers,  would  be  likely  to 
injure  him  in  the  public  esteem.  Mr.  Madison  wrote  to  him  in 
May  to  dissuade  him  from  his  purpose,  and  delicately  alludes  to 
the  effect  it  might  have  on  his  reputation  as  a  public  man,  by 
the  following  remarks:  "you  must  not  make  your  final  exit  from 
public  life,  till  it  shall  be  marked  with  justifying  circumstances, 
which  all  good  citizens  will  respect,  and  to  which  your  friends 
can  appeal."  To  this  part  of  the  letter  Mr.  Jefferson,  on  the 
9th  of  June,  replies  in  a  tone  of  remonstrance  and  almost  of 
impatience,  unwonted  with  him,  and  especially  in  his  intercourse 
with  Mr.  Madison: 

"To  my  fellow  citizens  the  debt  of  service  has  been  fully 

and  faithfully  paid.  I  acknowledge  that  such  a  deht  exists — 
that  a  tour  of  duty,  in  whatever  line  it  can  be  most  useful  to 
his  country,  is  due  from  every  individual.  It  is  not  easy,  per- 
haps, to  say  of  what  length  his  tour  should  be,  but  we  may 
safely  say  of  what  length  it  should  not  be;  not  of  our  whole 
life,  for  instance,  for  that  would  be  to  be  born  a  slave;  nor  even 
of  a  very  large  part  of  it.  I  have  now  been  in  the  public  ser- 
vice four-and-twenty  years;  one  half  of  which  has  been  spent  in 
total  occupation  with  their  affairs,  and  absence  from  my  own. 
I  have  served  my  term.  No  positive  engagement,  by  word  or 
deed,  binds  me  to  their  further  service.  No  commitment  of 
their  interests,  in  any  enterprise  by  me,  requires  that  I  should 
see  them  through  it.  I  am  pledged  by  no  act  which  gives  any 
tribunal  a  call  upon  me,  before  I  withdraw.  Even  my  enemies 
do  not  pretend  this.  I  stand  clear  then  of  public  right,  in  all 


464  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

points.  My  friends  I  have  not  committed.  No  circumstances 
have  attended  my  passage  from  office  to  office,  which  could  lead 
them  or  others  into  deception  as  to  the  time  I  might  remain; 
and  particularly,  they  and  all  have  known  with  what  reluct- 
ance I  engaged,  and  have  continued  in  the  present  one,  and  of 
my  uniform  determination  to  retire  from  it  at  an  early  day.  If 
the  public  has  no  claim  on  me,  and  my  friends  nothing  to  justi- 
fy, the  decision  will  rest  on  my  own  feelings  alone.  There  has 
been  a  time  when  these  were  different  from  what  they  are 
now;  when  perhaps  the  esteem  of  the  world  was  of  higher 
value,  in  my  eye,  than  every  thing  in  it;  but  age,  experience, 
reflection,  preserving  to  that  only  its  due  value,  have  set  a 
higher  on  tranquillity.  The  motion  of  my  blood  no  longer 
keeps  time  with  the  turmoil  of  the  world.  It  leads  me  to  seek 
happiness  in  the  lap  and  the  love  of  my  family;  in  the  society 
of  my  neighbours  and  my  books;  in  the  wholesome  occupations 
of  my  farm  and  my  affairs;  in  an  interest  or  affection  in  every 
bud  that  opens,  in  every  breath  that  blows  around  me;  in  an 
entire  freedom  of  rest  or  motion,  of  thought  or  incogitancy — 
owing  account  to  myself  alone  of  my  hours  and  actions.  What 
must  be  the  principle  of  that  calculation  which  should  balance 
against  these  circumstances  of  my  present  existence?  Worn 
down  with  labours  from  morning  till  night,  and  day  to  day; 
knowing  them  as  fruitless  to  others  as  they  are  vexatious  to 
myself;  committed  singly  in  desperate  and  eternal  contest 
against  a  host  who  are  systematically  undermining  the  public 
liberty  and  prosperity — even  the  rare  hours  of  relaxation 
sacrificed  to  the  society  of  persons  in  the  same  intentions,  of 
whose  hatred  I  am  conscious  even  in  those  moments  of  con- 
viviality, when  the  heart  most  wishes  to  open  itself  to  the  effu- 
sions of  friendship  and  confidence — cut  off  from  my  family  and 
friends;  my  affairs  abandoned  to  chaos  and  derangement.  »In 
short,  giving  every  thing  I  love  in  exchange  for  every  thing  I 
hate;  and  all  this,  without  a  single  gratification  in  possession  or 
prospect — in  present  enjoyment  or  future  wish.  Indeed,  my 
dear  friend,  duty  being  out  of  the  question,  inclination  cuts  off 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  465 

all  argument,  and  so  never  let  there  be  more  between  you  and 
me  on  this  subject." 

Thus  determined  to  withdraw  from  a  situation  so  irksome, 
he  wrote  on  the  31st  of  July  to  the  president,  that  the  motives 
which  in  February  had  induced  him  to  suspend  his  resignation 
no  longer  continuing,  he  should  resign  at  the  end  of  the  current 
quarter.  But  on  the  6th  of  August,  the  president  called  on 
him  at  his  house  on  the  Schuylkill,  when  the  preceding  letter 
gave  rise  to  a  long  conversation  on  the  views  of  parties,  on  Mr. 
Jefferson's  resignation  and  that  of  Colonel  Hamilton,  which  he 
himself  had  lately  made  known,  and  on  the  appointment  of  his 
successor,  in  the  state  department;  when  on  the  president's  ex- 
pressing a  particular  desire  that  Mr.  Jefferson  would  continue  in 
office  to  the  end  of  the  year,  he  took  time  to  consider  of  it,  and 
on  the  llth  of  August,  wrote  him  a  card  to  announce  his 
change  of  purpose,  in  compliance  with  the  president's  wishes. 
His  letter  of  resignation  is  in  the  following  words: 

"Philadelphia,  December  31,  1793. 
"Sir, 

"Having  had  the  honour  of  communicating  to  you,  in  my  let- 
ter of  the  last  of  July,  my  purpose  of  retiring  from  the  office 
of  Secretary  of  State,  at  the  end  of  the  month  of  September, 
you  were  pleased,  for  particular  reasons,  to  wish  its  postpone- 
ment to  the  close  of  the  year.  That  term  being  now  arrived,  and 
my  propensity  to  retirement  becoming  daily  more  and  more  irre- 
sistible, I  now  take  the  liberty  of  resigning  the  office  into  your 
hands.  Be  pleased  to  accept  my  sincere  thanks  for  all  the 
indulgences  which  you  have  been  so  good  as  to  exercise  to- 
wards me  in  the  discharge  of  its  duties.  Conscious  that  my 
need  of  them  has  been  great,  I  have  still  ever  found  them 
greater,  without  any  other  claim  on  my  part  than  a  firm  sup- 
port of  what  has  appeared  to  be  right  and  a  thorough  disdain  of  all 
means  which  were  not  as  open  and  honourable  as  their  object 
was  pure.  I  carry  into  my  retirement  a  lively  sense  of  your 
goodness,  and  shall  continue  gratefully  to  remember  it 

"With  my  serious  prayers  for  your  life,  health,  and  tranquil- 

VOL.  I.— 59 


466 


THE  LIFE  OF  TgOMAS  JEFFERSON. 


lity,  I  pray  you  to  accept  the  homage  of  the  great  and  constant 
respect  and  attachment  with  which  I  have  the  honour  to  be 

"Tm  JEFFERSON." 

He  soon  after  set  out  for  Monticello,  where  he  hoped  to  find 
that  peace  of  mind  which  public  employment  had  long  since 
ceased  to  afford  him. 


467 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

Mr.  Jefferson's  motives  for  retiring  from  public  life.  His  continued 
connexion  with  the  Republican  Party.  Description  of  Monticello. 
Mr.  Madison's  Commercial  Restrictions— arguments  for  and  against 
them  in  Congress.  State  of  parties  on  this  Question.  A  naval  force 
provided.  British  Order  in  Council  of  the  5th  of  November.  The 
Measures  in  Congress  to  which  it  gave  rise.  The  Chief  Justice  sent 
as  Minister  to  England.  Each  party  accuses  the  other  of  foreign 
attachments.  Arrangement  of  each  under  different  classes  of  citi- 
zens. 

1794. 

THUS  Mr.  Jefferson,  after  having  been  actively  engaged  in 
the  affairs  of  his  country  at  home  and  abroad,  for  twenty-five 
years,  had  now,  at  the  age  of  fifty,  returned  to  private  life,  for 
which  he  had  qualities  and  resources  that  peculiarly  fitted  him, 
and  for  which  too  he  had  always  expressed  a  strong  predilec- 
tion. Here  he  would  find  leisure  to  gratify  his  lively  relish  for 
letters;  to  make  observations  in  physics  and  natural  history; 
and,  in  the  society  of  his  daughters  and  grandchildren,  cultivate 
the  domestic  affections.  With  these  sources  of  happiness,  which 
were  more  fondly  desired  from  their  having  been  hitherto 
enjoyed  only  at  brief  intervals,  and  his  rare  cheerfulness  of 
temper,  he  would  probably  have  been  content  to  pass  the  re- 
mainder of  his  life  at  Monticello  with  as  little  of  repining  or 
chagrin  as  ever  attended  the  premature  retirement  of  a  states- 
man. 

His  motives  for  withdrawing  from  public  affairs  have  been,  as 
usual,  variously  interpreted  by  his  friends  and  his  enemies.  The 


468  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

former  alleged  that,  dissatisfied  with  some  parts  of  the  policy 
of  the  administration,  discouraged  by  his  failure  to  defeat  the 
most  pernicious  of  Hamilton's  measures,  and  harassed  by  the 
labours  of  incessant  controversy  in  the  cabinet  and  out  of  it,  he 
had  determined  to  bid  a  final  adieu  to  a  life  of  vexation  and 
disappointment;  and  that  since  it  was  not  allowed  him  to  serve 
his  country  by  his  counsels,  he  had  sought  peace  in  unambitious 
and  philosophical  retirement.  But  his  political  adversaries  de- 
nied that  private  life  was  his  ultimate  object.  They  insisted,  on 
the  contrary,  that  it  was  used  as  a  more  effectual  means  for 
the  furtherance  of  his  ambitious  views;  that  in  the  attitude  in 
which  he  had  been  recently  placed  of  defending  the  executive 
and  of  opposing  Genet,  he  was  in  danger  of  losing  the  confidence 
and  affections  of  the  party  to  whom  he  had  hitherto  looked  for 
support;  and  there  could  be  no  better  time  for  him  to  retreat 
from  so  delicate  a  position  than  when  his  late  official  support  of 
the  administration  had  softened  his  opponents,  and  even  won 
from  them  a  certain  degree  of  favour,  without  sensibly  diminish- 
ing the  confidence  and  adherence  of  his  own  party;  and  that 
he  now  withdrew  from  public  affairs  in  the  full  expectation  of 
being  a  candidate  for  the  presidency,  on  the  retirement  of  Gene- 
ral Washington. 

It  is  not  always  practicable  to  fathom  men's  motives,  for  they 
are  sometimes  not  known  or  not  distinctly  avowed  to  them- 
selves. Mr.  Jefferson's  own  declarations  repeatedly  made  with 
every  appearance  of  sincerity,  and  consistently  with  his  frequent 
refusals  of  public  office  and  resignations  after  he  had  accepted, 
all  concur  to  assure  us  that  he  would  have  contentedly  remain- 
ed a  private  individual  at  Monticello.  It  is  not,  however,  to  be 
supposed  that  he  felt  indifferent  to  the  great  events  which  were 
then  passing  in  Europe,  and  still  less  to  the  political  contests 
of  the  day  in  his  own  country;  nor  with  his  views,  would  such 
apathy  have  been  creditable  to  his  patriotism  or  love  of  civil 
liberty.  He  meant  no  doubt  in  his  retirement  to  keep  a  watch- 
ful eye  on  the  proceedings  both  of  Congress  and  the  administra- 
tion, and  to  avail  himself  of  his  popularity  in  the  nation,  to 
counteract  by  his  counsels  the  antirepublican  tendencies  of 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  469 

the  men  in  power,  and  of  the  English  party  generally.  Whe- 
ther there  mingled  with  these  feelings  the  ambition  of  attain- 
ing the  chief  power  himself  cannot  now  be  known.  But  it  is 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  he  was  not  exempt  from  the  desire 
of  self-aggrandizement,  if  it  could  be  attained  without  undue 
sacrifices.  With  ambition  thus  tempered  and  regulated,  whe- 
ther it  was  disguised  from  him  or  not,  it  seems  unfair  to  charge 
with  him  affecting  the  virtues  of  humility,  and  with  pretending 
to  disclaim  and  despise  what  he  secretly  coveted,  and  sedulously 
sought  to  attain. 

But  whatever  may  have  been  his  views  in  retiring,  he  was 
destined  not  long  to  remain  in  a  state  of  quiet  neutrality.  The 
unanimous  voice  of  his  party  soon  proclaimed  him  the  man  of 
their  choice  to  succeed  General  Washington;  and  as  it  is  not 
known  that  he  made  any  very  earnest  opposition  to  their 
wishes,  it  may  be  presumed  that  he  contented  himself  with  a 
passive  acquiescence.  The  part  which  he  did  take,  after  it 
was  distinctly  ascertained  that  he  was  to  be  the  candidate  of 
the  democratic  party,  cannot  now  be  easily  traced.  There  is 
little  evidence  of  it  to  be  found  in  his  correspondence;  and  there 
probably  never  existed  any  other,  except  in  the  conversations 
and  suggestions  which  passed  between  him  and  his  numerous 
visiters,  and  from  them  were  diffused  throughout  Virginia,  and 
even  the  union.  Of  these,  there  remains  no  memorial  save  what 
may  still  linger  in  the  faded  recollections  of  his  surviving  fellow 
labourers.  It  is  certain  that  Monticello  was,  in  this  and  the  two 
succeeding  years,  the  head-quarters  of  those  opposed  to  the  fe- 
deral policy,  and  that  few  measures  of  the  republican  party  in 
Congress  were  undertaken  without  his  advice  or  concurrence. 
He  even  had  an  agency  in  directing  the  attacks  of  the  opposi- 
tion journals;  and  manuscript  draughts  of  bills,  resolutions,  and 
reports  prepared  by  him  about  that  period,  are  yet  exhibited  by 
those  who  are  curious  in  autographs,  or  in  the  political  history 
of  the  times.  Some  of  the  members  of  Congress  from  Virginia, 
Kentucky,  and  the  southern  states,  were  his  intimate  friends; 
and  with  a  part  of  these  he  communicated  not  only  by  letter, 
but  also  by  a  personal  intercourse  during  the  summer  on  their 


470  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

visits  to  the  watering-places  in  the  mountains  of  Virginia. 
Among  his  most  frequent  visiters  were  Mr.  Madison,  Mr.  Mon- 
roe, and  Mr.  Giles. 

It  would  seem  that  no  course  could  have  been  more  prudent, 
if  political  advancement  had  been  Mr.  Jefferson's  object,  than 
that  which  he  took  in  withdrawing  from  public  affairs.  The 
impression  was  universal  that  he  had  quitted  the  administration 
because  he  did  not  cordially  approve  its  course;  and  while  he 
thus  secured  the  confidence  and  favour  of  one  party,  the  nega- 
tive character  of  a  retreat  from  the  field  of  contest,  did  not  ex 
cite  the  hostility  of  the  other;  and  the  ability  with  which  he 
had  defended  the  administration  against  the  complaints  of  Mr. 
Genet,  had  even  obtained  for  him  a  portion  of  their  esteem  and 
respect.  This  minister,  by  his  intemperate  zeal,  had  offered 
himself  as  a  victim  by  which  Mr.  Jefferson  was  able  to  propi- 
tiate his  enemies  without  giving  offence  to  his  friends. 

The  letters  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  written  about  this  time,  all  speak 
of  his  having  abstracted  himself  from  politics,  and  that  he  was 
engrossed  by  the  appropriate  pursuits  of  a  country  gentleman 
in  Virginia.  The  first  which  he  wrote  after  his  return  to  Mon- 
ticello  was  addressed  to  his  successor,  Mr.  Edmund  Randolph, 
and  dated  Feb.  3d,  1794.  In  that  he  asserts  that  he  read  no 
newspapers,  except  those  of  Richmond,  and  that  he  indulged 
himself  in  a  single  political  topic;  and  this  was,  he  says,  in  de- 
claring to  his  countrymen  "the  shameless  corruption  of  a  por- 
tion of  the  representatives  in  the  first  and  second  Congresses, 
and  their  implicit  devotion  to  the  treasury.  I  think,"  he  adds, 
"I  do  good  in  this,  because  it  may  produce  exertions  to  reform 
the  evil,  on  the  success  of  which  the  form  of  the  government  is 
to  depend." 

In  another  letter  to  Mr.  Madison,  dated  April  3d,  he  also  re- 
marks: "I  have  never  seen  a  Philadelphia  paper  since  I  left  it, 
till  those  you  enclosed  me;  and  I  feel  myself  so  thoroughly 
weaned  from  the  interest  I  took  in  the  proceedings  there,  while 
there,  that  I  have  never  had  a  wish  to  see  one,  and  believe  that 
I  shall  never  take  another  newspaper  of  any  sort.  I  find  my 
mind  totally  absorbed  in  my  rural  occupations." 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  471 

Yet  the  rest  of  this  very  letter,  which  is  not  a  short  one,  in- 
dicates any  thing  but  indifference  to  what  was  going  on  at  the 
seat  of  government.  "I  have,  he  says,  been  particularly  grati- 
fied by  the  receipt  of  the  papers  containing  your's  and  Smith's* 
discussions  of  your  regulating  propositions.  These  debates  had 
been  seen  here  but  in  a  very  .short  and  mutilated  form."  He 
then  ascribes  the  speech  of  Mr.  Smith  to  Colonel  Hamilton,  and 
used  arguments  to  establish  the  fact.  Adverting  to  the  rumour 
of  a  war  with  Great  Britain,  he  says,  "Still  I  hope  it  will  not 
come  to  that;  but  that  the  propositions  [Mr.  Madison's  retaliat- 
ing resolutions]  will  be  carried,  and  justice  done  to  ourselves  in 
a  peaceable  way.  As  to  the  guarantee  of  the  French  islands, 
whatever  doubts  may  be  entertained  of  the  moment  at  which 
we  ought  to  interpose,  yet  I  have  no  doubt  that  we  ought  to 
interpose  at  a  proper  time,  and  declare  both  to  England  and 
France,  that  these  islands  are  to  rest  with  France,  and  that  we 
will  make  a  common  cause  with  the  latter  for  that  object." 

These  remarks  may  lead  us  to  question  whether  his  mind  was 
so  absorbed  by  his  new  occupation  as  he  was  willing  to  believe. 
The  very  frequent  mention  of  his  indifference  to  politics  itself  is 
a  proof  that  they  occupied  much  of  his  thoughts:  and  his  un- 
willingness to  read  the  newspapers  implies  a  sensitiveness  to  the 
attacks  of  his  opponents,  and  a  disgust  with  their  ordinary 
topics  which  is  any  thing  but  indifference.  It  would  seem  in- 
deed highly  improbable  that  one  whose  thoughts  and  pursuits 
had  been  directed  to  public  concerns  for  almost  thirty  years.f 
during  nearly  the  whole  of  which  time  his  efforts  had  been  re- 
warded by  popularity  and  success,  could,  immediately  on  quit- 
ting them,  abstract  his  mind  from  all  which  had  hitherto  stimu- 
lated and  interested  it.  And  if  regret  and  disappointment  in 
the  past,  and  gloomy  presages  of  the  future  prevented  at  first 
that  philosophical  calm  which  he  sought,  it  was  not  long  before 
he  felt  an  interest  in  public  affairs  of  a  very  different  character. 

*  Mr.  William  Smith  of  South  Carolina. 

t  Though  Mr.  Jefferson's  public  life  began  in  1769,  yet  his  interest  in 
public  affairs  may  be  dated  from  1775,  when  the  resolutions  against 
the  stamp  act  were  debated. 


472  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

Ere  two  vears  had  passed  away  the  clouds  which  had  lately 
darkened  his  prospects  had  so  dispersed  that  he  once  more  ven- 
tured on  the  ocean  of  political  life;  and  though  he  again  had  to 
encounter  an  adverse  current  and  a  rough  sea,  yet  borne  along 
as  he  was  by  the  gale  of  popular  favour,  a  mind  less  sanguine 
than  his  might  confidently  hope  to  reach  the  haven  in  which 
his  voyage  was  to  terminate  with  honour  and  glory. 

The  preceding  passage  furnishes  a  further  proof  that  he  has 
been  unjustly  charged  by  his  opponents  with  a  wish  to  involve 
the  country  in  a  war  with  England;  that  he,  on  the  contrary, 
was  really  desirous  to  avoid  that  issue,  and  was  willing  to  en- 
counter it,  only  when  it  was  the  alternative  of  violating  the 
obligations  of  public  faith  towards  France. 

When  it  is  recollected  that  the  United  States  had  not  the 
naval  power  which  was  indispensable  for  making  good  this  gua- 
rantee, it  must  be  supposed  that  France  only  promised  herself 
from  it  either  the  advantage  of  involving  us  in  any  war  in 
which  she  might  be  engaged  with  England,  or  that  the  objec- 
tion which  England  would  have  to  such  a  result  would  be  a 
check  upon  her  engaging  in  a  war  with  France.  But  neither 
of  these  expectations  have  been  realized,  and  the  guarantee 
produced  no  other  effect,  good  or  bad,  than  the  advance  of  some 
supplies  to  the  French  authorities  in  St.  Domingo,  in  part  pay- 
ment of  the  debt  which  the  United  States  owed  to  France. 

The  spot  to  which  Mr.  Jefferson  had  retreated  from  the  la- 
bours and  anxieties  of  public  life,  possessed  great  natural  beau- 
ty, and  it  was  not  more  dear  to  his  affections  from  early  asso- 
ciations than  it  was  particularly  suited  to  his  taste.  His 
dwelling  house  was  placed  on  the  summit  of  a  little  mountain 
which  forms  part  of  the  south-west  range,  and  which  commands 
a  most  extensive  prospect  of  the  surrounding  country,  except  in 
the  north-east  and  south-west  directions — these  being  the  course 
of  the  range.  To  the  east  is  seen  a  vast  extent  of  wooded 
champaign  which,  though  not  entirely  level,  has  that  appear- 
ance when  seen  from  this  elevated  spot;  and  where  it  ap- 
proaches the  horizon-,  its  uniform  gray  tint  is  nearly  the  same  as 
a  distant  view  of  the  ocean.  To  the  south-west  is  seen  the  Blue 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  473 

Ridge,  in  its  nearest  point  about  twenty  miles  distant,  but 
stretching  away  to  the  north-east,  it  can  be  followed  by  the  eye 
for  more  than  100  miles— its  apparent  height  diminishing,  and  its 
tints  fading  as  it  gradually  recedes  from  the  view.  At  a  short 
distance,  (less  than  two  miles  direct,)  is  seen  the  town  of  Char- 
lottesville,  and  a  small  piece  or  two  of  the  Rivanna  river  exhibits 
its  glassy  surface  as  it  winds  through  the  forest.  Willis's  moun- 
tain is  seen  to  lift  its  head  alone  above  the  immense  plain  to  the 
south-west,  and  its  form  occasionally  undergoes  great  changes 
by  the  varying  refractions  of  the  atmosphere.  The  view  is 
however  recommended  by  magnificence  rather  than  variety, 
and  the  immense  chain  of  the  Blue  Ridge  is  its  most  striking 
feature. 

The  ground  on  the  eastern  edge  of  which  the  house  stands  is 
a  plain,  made  by  lowering  and  levelling  the  summit  of  the 
mountain,  and  comprehends  about  six  acres.  The  mountain 
is  clothed  with  the  trees  of  the  original  forest  on  every  side, 
except  the  south,  where  there  is  a  large  hanging  garden. 

The  house  is  a  long  building  of  moderate  elevation  with  a 
Grecian  portico  in  front  and  an  octagonal  cupola.  The  road  by 
which  it  is  approached  so  winds  round  the  mountain  as  to  make 
the  ascent  easy.  Long  terraces,  about  six  feet  above  the  ground, 
and  forming  three  sides  of  a  square,  serve  as  a  promenade  in 
good  weather,  and  cover  the  offices  attached  to  the  building. 
These  terraces  are  terminated  by  two  small  pavilions,  to  which 
the  members  of  the  family  retired  as  places  of  study. 

The  entrance  from  the  portico  was  into  a  saloon  decorated  on 
either  side  with  horns  of  elk,  moose,  and  deer;  Mexican  antiqui- 
ties; Indian  dresses,  weapons,  and  ornaments,  together  with 
three  or  four  pieces  of  statuary.  At  the  farther  end  of  this  hall 
were  glass  folding  doors,  which  opened  into  a  handsome  octagon- 
al drawing-room,  and  through  the  windows  at  the  farther  or 
west  end  were  seen  a  lawn  of  about  two  acres,  skirted  with 
forest  trees  native  and  exotic.  It  had  a  neat  parquet  floor,  the 
work  of  slaves,  and  the  walls  were  covered  with  paintings,  a 
great  proportion  of  which  were  portraits  of  eminent  statesmen 
and  philosophers.  To  the  right  was  the  dining-room  and  other 

VOL.  I.— 60 


474  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

apartments.  To  the  left  a  suite  of  rooms  appropriated  to  his 
own  use.  These  consisted  of  a  library,  bed-room,  dressing-room, 
and  a  small  apartment  containing  a  work-bench,  and  a  large 
assortment  of  tools,  where  he  used  to  seek  exercise  for  his  body 
and  recreation  for  his  mind.  In  his  library  one  saw  in  every 
direction  philosophical  and  mathematical  instruments,  mineralo- 
gical  specimens,  and  the  like,  which  indicated  the  varied  intel- 
lectual taste  and  pursuits  of  the  proprietor. 

To  Mr.  Tench  Coxe  of  Philadelphia,  Mr.  Jefferson  soon  after 
his  retirement  expresses  great  satisfaction  at  the  successes  of 
the  French:  "Over  the  foreign  powers,  he  says,  I  am  convinced 
they  will  triumph  completely,  and  I  cannot  but  hope  that  that 
triumph,  and  the  consequent  disgrace  of  the  invading  tyrants  is 
destined,  in  the  order  of  events,  to  kindle  the  wrath  of  the  peo- 
ple of  Europe,  against  those  who  have  dared  to  embroil  them  in 
such  wickedness,  and  to  bring  at  length,  kings,  nobles,  and 
priests,  to  the  scaffolds  which  they  have  been  so  long  deluging 
with  human  blood."  "I  am  still  warm,  whenever  I  think  of  these 
scoundrels,  though  I  do  it  as  seldom  as  I  can,  preferring  infinite- 
ly to  contemplate  the  tranquil  growth  of  my  lucerne  and  pota- 
tos."  Adverting  to  a  prospect  of  war,  he  says,  "he  is  sincerely 
anxious  that  it  may  be  avoided,  but  not  at  the  expense  of  either 
our  faith  or  honour."  As  to  myself,  he  remarks,  I  love  peace, 
and  I  am  anxious  that  we  should  give  the  world  still  another 
useful  lesson,  by  showing  them  other  modes  of  punishing  inju- 
ries than  by  war,  which  is  as  much  a  punishment  to  the  punisher 
as  to  the  sufferer.  I  love,  therefore,  Mr.  Clarke's  proposition  of 
cutting  off  all  communication  with  the  nation  which  has  con- 
ducted itself  so  atrociously." 

The  propositions  of  Mr.  Madison,  to  which  Mr.  Jefferson  refers 
in  his  letter  in  April,  were  founded  on  his  own  report  to  Con- 
gress, at  the  beginning  of  the  session,  on  the  commercial  relations 
of  the  United  States.  They  were  framed  in  strict  conformity 
with  the  retaliatory  policy  recommended  in  the  report,  and 
were  probably  prepared  with  his  concurrence,  as  a  manuscript 
draught  of  them  was  found  among  his  papers.  They  proposed 
to  lay  specific  duties  on  different  branches  of  manufactures:  to 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  475 

lay  additional  tonnage  duties  on  the  vessels  of  those  nations 
who  had  no  commercial  treaty  with  the  United  States:  to  re- 
duce the  duties  on  the  vessels  of  those  who  had  such  treaty:  to 
retaliate  all  the  restrictions  which  were  imposed  by  other  na- 
tions, whether  on  the  commerce  or  the  navigation  of  the  United 
States,  either  by  the  like  restrictions  or  a  tonnage  duty:  and 
lastly,  to  reimburse  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  for  the 
losses  they  had  sustained  by  the  illegal  procedures  of  other  na- 
tions, out  of  the  additional  duties  laid  on  the  products  and  ship- 
ping of  such  nation. 

These  resolutions  were  offered  on  the  3d  of  January,  1794, 
in  committee  of  the  whole  on  Mr.  Jefferson's  commercial  re- 
port, and  they  gave  rise  to  a  protracted  and  spirited  debate, 
in  which  the  two  great  parties  compared  their  strength. 
The  federalists  endeavoured  to  show  that  the  commercial 
policy  of  Great  Britain  was  more  favourable  to  the  United 
States  than  was  that  of  France,  by  a  detailed  review  of  the 
trade  in  each  of  our  great  staples:  that  in  the  articles  of  flour, 
tobacco,  rice  and  wood,  pot  and  pearl  ash,  indigo,  naval  stores 
and  iron,  the  trade  with  England  was  on  the  best  footing,  and 
that  it  was  only  in  the  articles  of  fish  and  oil  that  the  trade 
with  France  was  most  advantageous;  that  the  amount  of  the 
trade  to  England  was  nearly  double  of  that  to  France;  that 
although  many  of  the  articles  exported  to  England  were  not 
consumed  there,  but  were  re-exported  to  other  countries,  yet 
the  fact  that  they  were  first  sent  to  England  proved  that  the 
English  market  was  the  best.  The  large  amount  of  our  imports 
from  England,  of  which  some  complained,  was  also  an  evidence 
that  we  could  purchase  of  her  better  fabrics,  or  on  cheaper 
terms,  than  from  other  countries:  that  to  discourage  the  trade 
with  Great  Britain  by  high  duties,  for  the  sake  of  bringing  her 
to  the  level  of  other  nations,  was  to  tax  ourselves  for  the  benefit 
of  others:  that  as  to  our  navigation,  it  was  admitted  to  be  on 
a  more  favourable  footing  in  the  French  than  the  English  West 
Indies,  but  that  the  effect  had  been  overrated  by  Mr.  Jefferson, 
because  he  had  not  regarded  the  difference  of  the  voyage  to 
the  West  Indies  and  to  Europe,  by  which  one  voyage  to  Europe 
is  equal  to  four  to  the  West  Indies.  When  this  error  was  corrected, 


476  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

it  would  be  found  that  France  employed  but  about  15.000  tons 
more  of  our  shipping  than  Great  Britain,  instead  of  73,000,  as 
the  Secretary  of  State  had  reported. 

The  resolutions  were  supported  on  the  ground  that  most  of 
the  injuries  which  the  United  States  received  from  Great  Bri- 
tain proceeded  from  her  unceasing  efforts  to  extend  her  com- 
merce, and  could  only  be  countervailed  by  an  appeal  to  the 
same  regard  to  her  interests.  In  recognising  the  doctrines  of 
free  trade,  they  insisted  on  its  exceptions,  and  referred  to  the 
success  of  the  navigation  act  of  Great  Britain  as  proof  of  the 
wisdom  of  making  such  exceptions:  That  for  the  United  States 
to  permit  a  free  trade,  while  she  acquiesced  in  the  restrictions 
of  Great  Britain,  would  be  to  give  to  British  vessels  the  whole 
of  our  foreign  trade;  and  the  best  way  for  a  nation  to  derive 
advantage  from  trade  is  to  leave  it  entirely  free,  and  next  to 
that,  is  to  make  the  restrictions  reciprocal.  That  it  was  the 
disadvantage  experienced  from  the  want  of  this  reciprocity,  and 
the  effort  to  provide  a  remedy  for  it,  which  first  suggested  the 
present  constitution,  and  to  this  remedy  the  people  had  confi- 
dently looked.  The  injurious  effect  of  British  restrictions  was 
shown  in  comparing  our  shipping  with  that  of  other  nations 
employed  in  their  respective  trades:  thus,  in  the  trade  with  the 
other  nations  of  Europe,  the  American  tonnage  compared  with 
theirs  varied  in  the  proportion  of  from  five  to  twenty-six  to 
one,  while  it  was,  compared  with  that  of  Great  Britain,  as  one  to 
three:  that  America,  by  securing  the  carriage  of  her  own  trade, 
would  gain  the  more,  as  her  products  were  so  much  more  bulky 
in  proportion  to  their  value.  They  relied  also  on  the  balance 
of  trade  being  greatly  in  favour  of  Great  Britain,  and  insisted 
that  it  was  a  disadvantage  to  depend  upon  a  single  nation  for 
articles  of  general  and  extensive  consumption,  as  it  had  an  in- 
fluence on  the  councils  of  the  dependent  nation.  They  denied 
the  probability  of  retaliation  by  Great  Britain,  in  consequence 
of  the  importance  of  the  American  trade  to  her  commercial 
and  manufacturing  classes.  They  urged  that  she  was  more 
dependent  on  America  than  America  on  her,  both  for  the  pur- 
chase of  the  raw  material  and  the  sale  of  manufactures,  and 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  477 

that  the  West  Indies  were  dependent  on  the  United  States  for 
the  necessaries  of  life:  that  the  credit  afforded  by  British  capi- 
talists to  American  merchants  was  no  real  advantage,  but  was 
productive  of  much  mischief,  in  augmenting  luxurious  consump- 
tion, in  discouraging  domestic  manufactures,  and  increasing 
British  influence;  and  to  enforce  these  arguments,  the  hostile 
conduct  of  Great  Britain,  in  stimulating  the  hostilities  both  of 
the  Algerines  and  Indians,  were  referred  to,  and  contrasted  with 
the  conduct  of  France,  which  had  been  always  friendly  and 
generous. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  as  a  mere  question  of  commercial 
policy,  the  opponents  of  the  resolutions  seem  to  have  the  ad- 
vantage, except  so  far  as  it  could  be  shown  that  Great  Britain 
sought  by  her  commercial  regulations  to  impose  restrictions  on 
the  American  trade,  from  which  other  nations  exempted  it;  for 
so  far  as  she  did  this,  a  retaliation,  to  the  extent  of  the  injury, 
tended  to  restore  to  each  nation  that  proportion  of  their  mutual 
commerce  to  which  each  was  entitled,  and  was,  to  this  extent, 
in  accordance  with  the  approved  principles  of  free  trade. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  on  this  question  the  southern  and 
northern  states  have  since  changed  sides,  and  the  same  argu- 
ments which  were  then  urged  by  the  north  in  opposition  to 
southern  policy,  have  been  subsequently  maintained  by  the 
southern  states,  in  opposition  to  northern  policy,  and  that  some 
individuals  who  were  then  advocates  for  restriction  have  been 
since  conspicuous  in  the  defence  of  free  trade.  It  is  also  to  be 
remarked  that  in  the  first  of  these  controversies  in  1794,  the 
two  great  sections  of  the  union  were  placed  in  an  unnatural 
position  by  the  undue  interest  which  they  severally  felt  of  good 
or  ill  will  towards  the  French  and  English  nations,  but  in  the 
last,  they  are  influenced  by  a  consideration  of  their  permanent 
interests  exclusively. — The  northern  states  being  better  fit- 
ted for  manufactures  and  having  a  direct  interest  in  excluding 
foreign  rivals  from  the  whole  American  market,  while  the  southern 
states  being  almost  exclusively  employed  in  the  pursuits  of 
agriculture  must  look  to  the  foreign  markets  for  the  sale  of 
their  redundant  products.  And  so  far  as  they  are  purchasers 


478  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

of  manufactures,  they  are  benefited  by  the  competition  between 
foreign  and  American  manufactures;  of  course  they  have  a  di- 
rect interest  in  keeping  the  foreign  markets,  both  for  selling  and 
buying,  as  free  from  restriction  as  possible.  Among  the  general 
changes  of  position  which  we  perceive  on  this  question,  Mr. 
Madison  may  claim  to  have  maintained  the  same  ground  always, 
that  is,  he  has  always  insisted  upon  the  same  exceptions  to  the 
rule  of  free  trade  upon  great  considerations  of  national  policy. 

The  debate  continued  until  the  3d  of  February,  when  the 
1st  resolution  was  carried  by  a  majority  of  5.  The  remaining 
resolutions  were  then  postponed  to  the  first  Monday  in  March. 
One  of  the  professed  objects  of  the  resolutions  was  to  encourage 
manufactures. 

At  this  time,  in  consequence  of  a  recommendation  from  the 
president,  a  bill  had  been  reported  for  a  naval  force  for  the 
protection  of  American  commerce  from  the  Algerines.  The 
force  proposed  was  six  frigates.  This  measure  was  opposed  by 
the  democratic  party  as  warmly  as  Mr.  Madison's  resolutions 
had  been  opposed  by  the  federalists.  It  was  resisted  not  only 
on  the  ordinary  ground  of  its  unfitness  for  the  attainment  of 
its  object,  but  also  because  a  navy  was  said  to  be  contrary  to 
the  general  policy  of  the  United  States,  by  involving  a  ruinous 
expense;  by  being  incompatible  with  the  discharge  of  the  pub- 
lic debt,  and  by  its  exposing  us  to  the  hazard  of  collisions  on  the 
ocean  with  other  naval  powers,  and  eventually  to  war;  and 
lastly,  because  it  would  even  increase  our  dependence,  by  fur- 
nishing hostages  as  it  were  for  our  good  behaviour. 

As  a  substitute  for  this  mode  of  defence,  it  was  proposed 
either  to  purchase  a  peace  of  the  Algerines,  or  to  subsidize 
other  nations  to  afford  our  commerce  protection.  The  first  of 
these  expedients  the  friends  of  the  administration  alleged,  was 
in  the  present  temper  of  Algiers,  impracticable,  and  the  last 
was  at  once  precarious  and  dishonourable. 

On  the  policy  of  a  permanent  navy,  Mr.  Jefferson's  mind 
seems  to  have  fluctuated  more  than  upon  any  other.  In  his 
notes  written  during  the  war  of  the  revolution,  he  was  in  favour 
of  this  species  of  armament.  At  a  subsequent  period,  when  he 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  479 

was  in  France,  he  was  still  friendly  to  the  same  measure,  and 
especially  regarded  it  as  the  most  effectual  way  of  dealing  with 
the  Barbary  powers.  At  this  period  he  appears  to  have  con- 
curred with  his  party  in  their  objections  to  it.  When  he  was 
president  his  opposition  continued,  but  he  still  promptly  used 
what  naval  force  he  had  at  his  command  against  Algiers.  Af- 
terwards when  war  was  declared  against  Great  Britain,  he  was 
opposed  to  the  creation  of  a  naval  force,  alleging  that  it  would 
be  only  building  ships  for  the  British,  but  after  their  unexpect- 
ed success  he  seems  to  have  withdrawn  his  objections,  and  at 
least  have  acquiesced  in  the  national  voice,  then  loud  in  its 
praise.  There  has  been  an  entire  revolution  in  the  popular  sen- 
timent on  this  subject,  from  dread  and  aversion  to  enthusiastic 
favour.  The  bill  was  finally  carried  by  a  small  majority  in 
either  house. 

This  unfriendly  disposition  to  Great  Britain  was  soon  to  re- 
ceive a  great  accession  of  strength  from  new  abuses  of  her 
maritime  strength.  On  the  6th  of  November  was  issued  an 
order  in  council  requiring  her  armed  ships  to  detain  all  vessels 
carrying  provisions  to  any  French  colony,  or  laden  with  the 
produce  of  such  colony,  and  to  bring  them  in  to  port  "for  adju- 
dication." 

The  ships  of  war  and  privateers  were  not  slow  to  profit  by 
these  instructions,  and  the  admiralty  courts,  at  least  in  some  of 
the  islands,  interpreted  the  order  as  a  warrant  for  condemning 
the  cargoes  thus  detained  as  lawful  prize. 

This  order  and  the  proceedings  under  it  inflamed  the  animosi- 
'ty  of  the  democratic  party  to  the  highest  pitch,  and  made  a 
strong  impression  on  the  party  which  was  most  favourably  dis- 
posed to  Great  Britain.  They  regarded  the  measure  as  evidence 
of  settled  hostility  on  the  part  of  that  nation,  and  as  too  gross  a 
violation  of  neutral  rights  to  be  tamely  borne. 

In  March  it  was  proposed  to  raise  a  military  force  and  lay  an 
embargo;  and  both  measures  were  adopted.  A  bill  was  passed 
for  fortifying  some  of  the  most  important  harbours;  a  commit- 
tee reported  in  favour  of  a  provisional  army  of  25,000  men,  and 
for  organizing  80,000  militia,  the  last  of  which  measures  was 


480  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

adopted  by  the  House.  And  on  the  27th  of  the  month,  a  mo- 
tion was  made  for  the  sequestration  of  all  debts  due  to  British 
subjects,  by  way  of  creating  a  fund  to  indemnify  American  citi- 
zens for  illegal  captures  of  their  property  on  the  ocean.  But 
before  any  decision  was  had  on  this  proposition,  or  on  Mr.  Madi- 
son's resolutions,  it  was  proposed  by  Mr.  Clarke  of  New  Jersey, 
to  prohibit  all  intercourse  with  Great  Britain,  until  she  compen- 
sated our  citizens  for  the  injuries  sustained  by  British  cruisers, 
and  surrendered  the  military  posts  on  the  frontiers.  While 
these  different  plans  of  vindicating  the  rights  of  the  nation  were 
undecided,  Congress  learnt  through  the  American  minister  that 
the  orders  in  council  of  the  6th  of  November  were  revoked  by 
another  order  of  the  8th  of  January,  as  to  all  vessels  except 
those  which  were  laden  with  colonial  produce,  and  were  on  a 
voyage  from  the  French  colonies  to  Europe;  and  that  the  Bri- 
tish ministry  had  put  a  narrower  construction  on  the  first  order 
than  had  been  put  upon  it  by  the  courts  of  vice  admiralty,  de- 
claring that  by  ordering  neutral  vessels  to  be  brought  into  ports 
"for  adjudication,"  it  was  not  intended  to  subject  any  to  condem- 
nation except  those  which  would  have  been  otherwise  liable. 

Before  this  intelligence,  war  with  Great  Britain  was  believed 
to  be  very  probable  by  all  parties,  both  because  the  United 
States  would  not  tamely  submit  to  such  a  flagrant  violation  of 
their  neutral  rights,  and  because  they  considered  that  the  order 
afforded  unequivocal  evidence  that  Great  Britain  was  herself 
inclined  to  war.  But  when  subsequent  accounts  removed  the  last 
impression  from  the  minds  of  the  federal  party,  their  efforts  to 
preserve  peace  returned  with  their  good  feelings  towards  Eng- 
land; they  looked  to  negotiation  as  the  remedy  for  the  pending 
evils,  and  opposed  every  measure  which  was  likely  to  prevent 
or  impede  its  success.  Their  opponents,  though  somewhat 
stronger  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  did  not  press  a  deci- 
sion of  their  favourite  scheme  of  commercial  retaliation,  or  other 
defensive  measures,  from  the  hope,  no  doubt,  that  the  probable 
alternative  of  war  with  the  United  States  might  induce  the 
British  government  to  forbear  her  maritime  aggressions;  and 
they  were  confirmed  in  their  purpose  by  the  intelligence  received 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  481 

from  our  minister,  already  adverted  to.  While  therefore  they 
were  not  opposed  to  the  appointment  of  an  envoy,  they  consi- 
dered that  the  most  likely  means  of  ensuring  success  to  the  ne- 
gotiation would  be  not  to  relax  in  their  preparations  for  war. 
These  discussions  in  Congress,  together  with  the  numerous  cap- 
tures of  American  vessels,  produced  great  popular  irritation, 
and  carried  public  sentiment,  which  is  generally  somewhat  in 
the  rear  of  the  active  politicians,  far  beyond  the  spirit  of  the 
majority  in  Congress,  when  the  administration  came  to  the 
conclusion  to  send  a  minister  to  England,  and  Mr.  Jay  the  chief 
justice  was  selected  for  that  object.  His  appointment  was  ob- 
jected to  by  the  republican  party  on  account  of  his  judicial 
office;  it  being  urged  by  them  that  those  invested  with  judicial 
authority  should  not  mingle  in  other  concerns,  and  still  less  with 
those  of  party  politics,  lest  they  should  carry  their  political  feel- 
ings on  the  bench;  and  that  if  the  judges  could  be  rewarded 
with  offices  of  greater  distinction  and  emolument,  it  would  favour 
that  spirit  of  dependence  against  which  the  constitution  meant 
to  guard  in  providing  that  their  offices  should  not  be  taken 
away,  nor  their  salaries  diminished;  and  that  the  only  effectual 
way  of  securing  their  independence  was  to  make  them  as  inac- 
cessible to  the  hope  of  reward  as  to  the  fear  of  punishment. 

The  appointment  of  Mr.  Jay,  therefore,  had  little  effect  in  al- 
laying the  mutual  irritation  of  the  parties.  It  may  be  rather 
said  that  they  availed  themselves  of  the  interval  to  prepare 
more  vigorously  to  profit  by  the  result  of  the  mission,  for  the 
purpose  of  attacking  their  opponents  and  bringing  them  into  dis- 
credit with  the  people.  In  these  party  contests  our  relations 
with  England  and  France,  and  the  attachment  of  our  citizens 
to  those  nations  respectively,  mingled  themselves  in  every  ques- 
tion. While  each  party  hated  one  of  these  nations  yet  more 
than  it  was  attached  to  the  other,  it  felt  a  lively  jealousy  and 
dread  of  the  other's  attachment.  The  federalists  persuaded 
themselves  that  the  excessive  and  blind  partiality  of  the  demo- 
cratic party  to  France,  would  bring  this  country  under  the  in- 
fluence of  the  French  government,  and  thus  make  it  a  servile 
dependent  on  that  nation.  They  even  feared  that  the  extrava- 

VOL.  I.— Gl 


482  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

gant  admiration  of  our  people  for  France  would  lead  them  to 
adopt  all  their  visionary  theories,  their  practical  licentiousness, 
and  be  followed  by  the  same  cruelty,  profligacy,  and  anarchy. 
On  the  other  hand,  their  opponents  regarded  British  influence 
as  established  in  every  department  of  the  federal  government, 
and  were  persuaded  that  the  leaders  of  the  federal  party 
sought  to  undermine  the  present  constitution,  for  the  sake  of 
erecting  on  its  ruins  a  monarchical  government  more  auspicious 
to  their  own  love  of  power,  more  congenial  to  the  British  model, 
the  object  of  their  admiration  and  regard,  and  more  opposite  to 
that  of  France,  which  they  at  once  feared  and  detested. 

After  the  lapse  of  forty  years,  when  the  mists  of  passion  which 
clouded  men's  understandings  have  cleared  away,  there  seems 
to  have  been  little  to  justify  these  lively  apprehensions  on  either 
side,  and  the  conduct  into  which  either  was  betrayed  by  its 
fears  was  calculated  to  increase  the  causes  of  alarm.  It  might 
have  appeared  to  the  federal  party  that,  with  all  the  enthusiasm 
which  the  American  people  manifested  for  the  cause  of  the 
French  revolution,  and  the  admiration  which  that  event,  when 
regarded  in  its  grandest  features,  excited,  the  same  crimi- 
nal excesses,  the  same  disregard  of  law  and  order  could  not 
have  existence  here  as  had  taken  place  in  Paris,  for  there  was 
neither  the  requisite  materials,  nor  motives,  nor  objects.  There 
was  here  no  ignorant  mob,  without  property,  or  principle,  or 
self-respect,  hating  the  rich  and  ready  to  plunder  or  murder  at 
the  bidding  of  a  leader.  Every  one  yielded  obedience  to  the 
law — every  one  had  something  to  lose — almost  every  one  was 
embued  with  a  respect  for  religion,  morality,  and  law,  which 
severally  exercised  a  sway  over  the  hearts  and  wills  of  men  to 
be  no  where  else  seen;  and  if  there  was  something  like  appro- 
bation or  toleration  for  the  crimes  perpetrated  in  France,  by 
those  who  saw  them  through  the  softening  medium  of  distance, 
and  under  the  belief  that  these  excesses  were  necessary  acts  of 
self-defence  against  traitors,  yet  it  was  only  in  the  cities  that 
even  these  symptoms  of  undue  partiality  appeared.  The  great 
mass  of  the  people  remained  unchanged. 

Nor  were  the  fears  of  the  democratic  party  that  their  oppo- 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  483 

nents  were  prepared  to  surrender  their  independence  to  the 
British  government  better  founded.  The  federalists  were  indeed 
desirous  of  peace  with  England,  for  that  was  evidently  recom- 
mended by  the  interests  of  the  United  States;  they  admired  the 
constitution  and  laws  of  that  country,  long  regarded  as  the  best 
system  of  civil  liberty  the  world  had  seen;  and  they  looked  to 
her  power  as  the  most  able  to  resist  the  influence  of  the  French, 
who  threatened  to  subvert  every  thing  in  religion,  morals,  or 
government,  which  had  hitherto  been  venerable  in  the  eyes  of 
mankind.  While  each  thus  saw  in  the  strength  of  the  govern- 
ment it  approved  the  most  effectual  counteraction  for  the  dan- 
gers it  apprehended,  it  aided  to  increase  that  strength;  and  by 
thus  unconsciously  augmenting  the  fears  of  its  adversaries, 
created  new  cause  for  its  own. 

The  bill  for  non-intercourse  was  passed  by  the  House  of  Re- 
presentatives, notwithstanding  the  mission  of  Mr.  Jay,  and  was 
lost  in  the  Senate  by  the  casting  vote  of  the  vice-president,  Mr. 
Adams. 

In  consequence  of  the  measures  of  defence,  in  case  of  a  war,  and 
the  appropriation  of  a  million  of  dollars  to  purchase  peace  of 
Algiers,  it  was  found  necessary  to  increase  the  taxes,  which  were 
opposed  partly  on  the  ground  that  they  were  unconstitutional,* 
and  partly  because  direct  taxes  were  deemed  more  equal  and 
unexceptionable.  The  materials  of  which  these  parties  were 
composed  may  throw  some  light  on  the  principles  which  actuat- 
ed them,  and  may  not  be  without  interest  to  those  who  from 
youth,  or  remoteness  from  the  scene  of  action,  may  not  have 
had  an  opportunity  of  judging  from  personal  observation. 

The  federal  party  consisted  1st.  Of  most  of  the  officers  and 
soldiers  of  the  revolution,  who  thus  arranged  themselves,  not 
merely  from  their  personal  attachment  to  General  Washington, 
but  because  the  habits  of  military  obedience  and  discipline  in- 
clines this  class  of  men  to  take  side  with  those  who  exercise 

*  This  objection  was  urged  principally  against  the  carriage  tax,  which 
it  was  contended  was  a  direct  tax,  and  therefore  should  he  apportioned 
among  the  states  according  to  representation. 


484  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

power,  and  are  the  immediate  preservers  of  order.  2.  All  those 
who  had  speculated  in  the  funds.  They  were  attached  to  the 
new  government  by  the  double  ties  of  gratitude  for  the  great 
gains  they  had  derived  by  the  funding  of  the  debt,  and  by  those 
of  interest,  which  was  so  closely  connected  with  the  strength  of 
the  government  and  the  permanency  of  the  union.  3.  All 
British  merchants  and  agents,  both  from  national  attachments 
and  antipathies,  and  because  the  democratic  party  wished  to 
encourage  trade  with  France  at  the  expense  of  that  with  Eng- 
land. In  the  southern  states  too  there  was  a  large  amount  of 
debts  still  due,  and  the  creditors  and  their  agents  hated  the  party 
which  had  obstructed  their  recovery.  4.  The  mercantile  com- 
munity, generally,  because  they  were  most  benefited  by  British 
capital,  either  as  agents  or  dealers;  and  because  also  they,  as  a 
class,  love  peace  and  order,  and  are  disposed  to  support  govern- 
ment generally,  and  especially  the  course  of  this  administration, 
which  had  declared  itself  friendly  to  peace.  5.  The  rest  of  the 
federal  party  consisted  of  those  who  were  influenced  by  attach- 
ment to  General  Washington,  or  dread  of  contamination  from 
French  alliance,  or  who  being  of  a  quiet,  timid,  or  negative 
character,  were  by  temperament  disposed  to  give  their  confi- 
dence to  the  government,  and  to  look  to  it  for  protection. 

The  republican  party  consisted  1.  Of  most  of  those  who  had 
been  opposed  to  so  liberal  a  grant  of  power  to  the  general 
government  at  the  expense  of  the  states,  and  who  appre- 
hended that  it  would  finally  lead  to  a  consolidated  or  central 
government,  possessing  undivided  sovereignty.  They  saw,  or 
thought  they  saw,  in  the  course  of  the  administration,  much  to 
realize  their  former  apprehensions.  2.  The  sanguine  and  en- 
thusiastic votaries  of  civil  liberty,  who  yielding  to  their  hopes, 
saw  in  the  French  revolution  only  the  advancement  of  the 
great  cause  of  human  happiness,  and  in  the  crimes  and  outrages 
with  which  it  was  accompanied,  a  painful  but  necessary  and 
temporary  remedy  for  the  disease  of  bad  government;  and  in 
the  administration,  under  the  mask  of  neutrality,  secret  enmity 
to  the  glorious  cause.  This  class  comprehended  most  young 
men;  men  of  letters  and  speculative  minds;  fiery  tempers,  im- 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  485 

patient  of  control;  political  projectors  and  innovators.  3.  Free- 
thinkers in  religion  and  morals,  who  from  mere  congeniality  of 
sentiment  with  the  ruling  party  in  France,  sided  with  those  who 
were  most  favourable  to  that  country.  4.  All  who  felt  ani- 
mosity to  Great  Britain,  comprehending  those  Americans  in 
whom  resentment  excited  by  the  war  had  not  subsided,  and 
Irish  emigrants,  who  hated  the  English  yoke,  and  resented  the 
persecutions  of  her  patriots.  5.  Personal  adherents  to  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson. 

The  first  class  constituted  the  majority  of  the  northern  states. 
The  last,  the  majority  of  the  southern  states.  In  the  cities,  in 
both  divisions  of  the  union,  parties  were  nearly  balanced.  The 
federal  party  could  boast  of  the  most  wealth.  But  as  to  talents, 
neither  party  had  an  acknowledged  predominance.  The  fede- 
ralists reproached  their  opponents  with  being  visionary.  They 
in  turn  were  charged  with  being  corrupt  and  designing;  and  if 
we  are  to  trust  to  the  instinctive  sagacity  of  an  enemy  in  seizing 
on  the  most  vulnerable  point  of  attack,  we  should  infer  that  the 
republican  party,  generally,  were  more  deficient  in  judgment 
than  honest  intention,  and  that  the  federalists  were  at  once  more 
practical,  more  selfish,  and  mercenary. 

In  the  month  of  April,  Mr.  Jefferson  received  a  letter  from 
General  Washington,  which  he  answered  in  May.  It  seems 
from  this  correspondence  that  every  appearance  of  friendship 
was  still  kept  up  between  them.  In  a  slight  allusion  to  politics, 
Mr.  Jefferson  remarks,  "my  opinion  of  the  British  government 
is,  that  nothing  will  force  them  to  do  justice  but  the  loud  voice 
of  their  people,  and  that  this  can  never  be  excited  but  by  distressing 
their  commerce.  But  I  cherish  tranquillity  too  much  to  suffer 
political  things  to  enter  my  mind  at  all." 


486 


CHAPTER  XX. 

Insurrection  in  Pennsylvania.  Mr.  Jefferson  refuses  a  seat  in  the 
Cabinet.  Democratic  Societies.  The  President's  Speech— Mr.  Jef- 
ferson's strictures  on  it.  The  fitness  of  large  states  for  Republican 
Government  considered.  Gouverneur  Morris  recalled — his  character. 
James  Munroe.  Discontent  of  Kentucky.  Direct  and  Indirect 
Taxes.  Alexander  Hamilton  resigns — his  character.  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son refuses  to  become  a  Candidate  for  the  Presidency.  Treaty  with 
Great  Britain — ratified  by  the  Senate — made  public  by  one  of  the 
Senators — violent  opposition  to  it.— Mr.  Jefferson's  views  of  it — its 
provisions — its  want  of  reciprocity  detailed  and  explained. 

1794-5. 

AN  event  now  occurred  which  was  calculated  to  excite 
the  mortification  and  regret  of  the  friends  of  the  constitution, 
and  the  advocates  for  popular  government.  The  discontents 
produced  by  the  excise  law  in  the  western  part  of  Pennsylva- 
nia had  gone  on  increasing,  until  it  had  broken  out  in  open  re- 
sistance to  the  laws.  The  immediate  occasion  of  the  popular 
rising  was  on  the  marshal's  attempt  to  execute  process  against 
some  offenders,  who  had  been  indicted  in  the  federal  court.  A 
body  of  armed  men  fired  on  him,  and  compelled  him  to  retreat. 
The  house  of  the  inspector-general,  who  superintended  the  ex- 
cise, having  been  besieged,  he  himself  was  obliged  to  surrender, 
and  his  papers  were  seized.  The  marshal  was  compelled  to 
promise  that  he  would  execute  no  more  process  on  the  west  of 
the  Alleghany;  and  both  he  and  the  inspector  being  threatened 
for  refusing  to  resign,  sought  safety  in  flight.  The  insurgents 
opened  the  mail  and  examined  the  letters  it  contained  to  dis- 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  487 

cover  the  persons  who  were  opposed  to  them,  and  these  they 
immediately  compelled  to  leave  the  country.  They  called  a 
convention,  the  object  of  which  was  to  compel  the  resignation  of 
all  officers  engaged  in  the  collection  of  the  excise,  and  to  resist 
the  authority  of  the  law  by  force,  until  it  was  repealed. 

On  a  certificate  from  one  of  the  judges,  as  the  act  of  Congress 
required,  that  the  execution  of  the  laws  was  obstructed,  the 
president,  on  the  7th  of  August,  issued  a  proclamation  command- 
ing the  insurgents  to  disperse,  and  warning  them  of  the  conse- 
quences of  disobedience. 

Having  learnt  from  the  Governor  of  Pennsylvania,  that  the 
militia  of  that  state  would  not  be  sufficient  to  put  down  the 
resistance,  and  wishing  to  crush  all  hopes  of  effectual  opposi- 
tion, he  determined  to  require  aid  from  other  states.  He 
accordingly  made  a  requisition  of  12,000  militia  of  New  Jersey, 
Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  and  Virginia.  A  second  admonitory 
proclamation  was  issued  on  the  28th  September,  and  other  con- 
ciliatory measures  were  pursued  without  effect.  The  call  for 
militia  was  promptly  met  in  all  these  states  except  in  Penn- 
sylvania, and  finally,  by  the  efforts  of  Governor  Miffiin,  in  that. 
On  the  arrival  of  the  government  forces,  the  insurgents  dispers- 
ed, and  some  of  the  leaders  were  seized  for  prosecution.  The 
ease  with  which  this  open  resistance  to  the  laws  was  quelled, 
afforded  matter  of  triumph  and  congratulation  to  the  friends  of 
the  administration,  for  the  prudence  and  humanity  of  their 
course,  and  of  censure  on  the  part  of  the  opposition  for  the  vain 
parade  and  unnecessary  expense  of  a  force  so  disproportionate 
to  the  occasion. 

In  September,  during  the  pendency  of  this  commotion,  Mr. 
Jefferson  received  a  letter  from  Mr.  Edmund  Randolph,  the 
secretary  of  state,  by  express,  which  found  him  in  bed,  under  a 
severe  attack  of  rheumatism,  inviting  him  to  resume  a  place  in 
the  public  councils;  but  the  invitation  was  peremptorily  declined. 
"No  circumstance,  he  says,  my  dear  sir,  will  ever  more  tempt 
me  to  engage  in  any  thing  public.  I  thought  myself  perfectly 
fixed  in  this  determination  when  I  left  Philadelphia,  but  every 
day  and  hour  since  has  added  to  its  inflexibility.  It  is  a  great 


488  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

pleasure  to  me  to  retain  the  esteem  and  approbation  of  the 
president,  and  this  forms  the  only  ground  of  any  reluctance  at 
being  unable  to  comply  with  every  wish  of  his.  Pray  convey 
these  sentiments  and  a  thousand  more  to  him,  which  my  situa- 
tion does  not  permit  me  to  go  into." 

One  of  the  instances  in  which  our  citizens  manifested  a  dis- 
position to  imitate  what  was  French,  was  in  the  establishment 
of  democratic  societies  for  the  purpose  of  guiding  political  opi- 
nion, and  even  influencing  the  measures  of  the  government.  As 
they  were  in  general  opposed  to  the  administration,  from  its 
supposed  hostility  to  the  French  revolution,  they  naturally  con- 
demned the  excise.  They  had  indeed  from  the  first  been 
regarded  with  aversion  and  distrust  by  those  who  feared  the 
introduction  of  the  same  political  frenzy  here  which  had  pre- 
vailed in  Paris,  and  to  which  they  were  supposed  to  have  con- 
tributed. 

General  Washington  partaking  of  this  opinion,  thus  noticed 
these  societies  in  his  opening  message  to  Congress.  "From  a  be- 
lief that  by  a  more  formal  concert  the  operation  (of  the  laws) 
might  be  defeated,  certain  self-created  societies  assumed  the 
tone  of  condemnation;"  and  in  a  subsequent  passage  he  says, 
and  "when  in  the  calm  moments  of  reflection,  they  shall  have 
retraced  the  origin  and  progress  of  insurrection,  let  them  deter- 
mine whether  it  has  not  been  fomented  by  combinations  of  men, 
who,  careless  of  consequences,  and  disregarding  the  unerring 
truth  that  those  who  rouse  cannot  always  appease  a  civil  con- 
vulsion, have  disseminated,  from  an  ignorance  or  perversion  of 
facts,  suspicions,  jealousies,  and  accusations  of  the  whole  go- 
vernment." 

Mr.  Jefferson  comments  on  these  remarks  with  great  severity 
in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Madison.  He  speaks  of  the  "denunciation" 
as  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  acts  of  boldness  of  which  we 
have  seen  so  many  from  the  faction  of  monocrats;  says,  "it  is  won- 
derful indeed  that  the  president  should  have  permitted  himself  to 
be  the  organ  of  such  an  attack  on  the  freedom  of  discussion,  the 
freedom  of  writing,  printing,  and  publishing."  He  then  con- 
trasts these  societies  with  the  Cincinnati,  says  that  this  denun- 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  489 

elation  of  the  societies  had  been  universally  condemned:  That 
the  resistance  to  the  excise  law  did  not  amount  to  more 
than  a  riot,  and  that  the  law  itself  was  "an  infernal  one."  That 
the  first  error  was  to  admit  it  by  the  constitution:  the  second, 
to  act  on  that  admission;  the  third  and  last  will  be,  to  make  it  the 
instrument  for  dismembering  the  union,  and  setting  us  all  afloat  to 
choose  what  part  of  it  we  will  adhere  to."  "The  information  of 
our  militia,  he  adds,  returned  from  the  westward,  is  uniform,  that 
that  though  the  people  there  let  them  pass  quietly,  they  were 
objects  of  their  laughter,  not  of  their  fear;  that  their  detesta- 
tation  of  the  excise  law  is  universal,  and  has  now  associated  to 
it  a  detestation  of  the  government;  and  that  separation,  which 
perhaps  was  a  very  distant  and  problematical  event,  is  now 
near,  and  certain,  and  determined  in  the  mind  of  every  man." 

He  proceeds  to  make  further  comment  on  the  opening  mes- 
sage of  the  president,  both  for  what  it  contained  and  what  it 
pretermitted;  and,  writing  in  the  freedom  of  confidential  inter- 
course, is  not  sparing  of  his  censure,  or  even  ridicule.  But  he 
thus  consoles  himself  with  the  prospect  of  a  better  state  of 
things:  "However,  the  time  is  coming  when  we  shall  fetch  up 
the  leeway  of  our  vessel.  The  changes  in  your  House,  I  see, 
are  going  on  for  the  better,  and  even  the  Augean  herd  over 
your  heads  [meaning  the  senate]  are  slowly  purging  oflf  their 
impurities.  Hold  on  then,  my  dear  friend,  that  we  may  not 
shipwreck  in  the  mean  while.  I  do  not  see,  in  the  minds  of 
those  with  whom  I  converse,  a  greater  affliction  than  the  fear 
of  your  retirement;  but  this  must  not  be,  unless  to  a  splendid 
and  a  more  efficacious  post.  There  I  should  rejoice  to  see  you;  I 
hope  I  may  say,  I  shall  rejoice  to  see  you.  1  have  long  had 
much  in  my  mind  to  say  to  you  on  that  subject.  But  double 
delicacies  have  kept  me  silent.  I  ought  perhaps  to  say,  while 
I  would  not  give  up  my  retirement  for  the  empire  of  the  universe, 
how  I  can  justify  wishing  one  whose  happiness  I  have  so  much 
at  heart  as  yours,  to  take  the  front  of  the  battle  which  is  fight- 
ing for  my  security.  This  would  be  easy  enough  to  be  done, 
but  not  at  the  heel  of  a  lengthy  epistle." 

It  appears  from  the  preceding  letter  that  the  force  of  his  op- 

VOL.  I.— 62 


490  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

position  to  the  federal  party  had  not  abated  by  his  retirement, 
and  that  he,  in  common  with  the  rest  of  his  political  associates, 
was  disposed  to  consider  General  Washington  as  no  longer  neu- 
tral between  the  two  parties. 

It  would  also  seem  from  the  last  part  of  the  letter  that 
there  had  been  no  arrangement  at  that  time  as  to  the  candidate 
whom  the  republican  party  would  support  for  the  presidency. 
It  is  evident  that  the  subject  had  been  frequently  mentioned 
to  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  that  he  had  to  this  time  disclaimed  all  in- 
tention of  being  a  candidate.  The  delicacy  and  forbearance 
which  were  manifested  on  this  subject  by  those  who  first  held 
that  office,  whether  they  be  regarded  as  expressing  their  real 
feelings,  or  they  be  supposed  to  have  deceived  themselves,  (for 
few  will  regard  them  as  utterly  hollow  and  hypocritical,)  are 
in  strong  contrast  with  the  course  which  has  since  been  too 
often  pursued  by  those  who  aspired  to  that  office:  and  who,  in- 
stead of  positive  disclaimers,  have  sometimes  condescended  to  en- 
gage in  an  open  canvass.  It  is  not  easy  to  decide  whether  the 
difference  is  accidental,  and  to  be  attributed  to  the  diversities 
of  individual  character,  or  is  to  be  ascribed  to  a  more  general 
change  in  the  nation  as  to  the  modes  of  thinking  and  acting  on 
this  subject.  Do  the  votaries  of  ambition  and  popular  favour 
become  bolder,  as  the  power  and  distinction  they  covet  become 
greater,  and  their  competitors  more  numerous?  Or  does  the 
sensitiveness  of  the  people  themselves  to  egotism,  the  love  of 
power,  and  confident  pretension,  become  blunted  by  habit,  so  as 
to  tolerate  what  once  gave  offence?  Men's  passions  and  desires 
undergo  little  change;  but  their  manifestations  of  them  are 
greatly  modified  by  circumstances. 

The  dread  of  disunion,  which  seems  to  have  been  so  strong 
on  Mr.  Jefferson's  mind,  in  consequence  of  this  civil  commotion, 
and  the  measures  pursued  by  the  government  to  suppress  it, 
appears  never  to  have  been  general;  and  all  local  and  partial 
symptoms  of  it  soon  passed  away. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  year  1795,  Mons.  D.  Ivernois  of  Ge- 
neva wrote  to  him  to  propose  to  transplant  the  college  of  Geneva 
to  Virginia;  to  which  proposal  he  answered  that,  on  consulting 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  491 

some  of  the  members  of  the  legislature,,  whilst  many  approved 
of  the  scheme,  they  all  agreed  that  it  was  at  this  time  impracti- 
cable, because  it  was  disproportionate  to  the  means  of  the  coun- 
try. In  this  letter  he  questions  the  correctness  of  the  doctrine 
that  small  states  alone  are  fit  for  republican  government,  and 
thinks  that  it  will  be  "exploded  by  experience,  with  some  other 
brilliant  fallacies  accredited  by  Montesquieu  and  other  political 
writers."  He  suggests  that,  to  obtain  a  just  republic,  it  must 
be  so  extensive  as  that  "local  egoisms"  may  never  reach  its 
greater  part;  and  that,  "on  every  particular  question,  a  majority 
may  be  found  in  its  councils,  free  from  particular  interests, 
and  giving  therefore  a  uniform  prevalence  to  the  principles 
of  justice.  The  smaller  the  societies,  the  more  violent  and  con- 
vulsive their  schisms.  We  have  chanced  to  live  in  an  age 
which  will  probably  be  distinguished  in  history  for  its  experi- 
ments in  government,  on  a  larger  scale  than  has  yet  taken 
place.  But  we  shall  not  live  to  see  the  result." 

As  power  will  always  be  abused  where  there  is  not  an  iden- 
tity of  interests  between  those  who  exercise  it  and  those  on 
whom  it  acts,  a  republic  seems  to  be  incompatible  with  a  great 
extent  of  country,  unless  a  part  of  the  sovereign  powers  of  go- 
vernment be  exercised  by  local  authorities.  For  there  needs 
must  be  a  great  diversity  of  interests,  feelings,  and  habits  in  an 
extensive  country,  each  of  which  claims  a  certain  degree  of  in- 
dulgence to  make  the  people  contented;  and  if  all  political  power 
is  exercised  by  one  general  government,  however  that  may  be 
constituted,  that  power  will  be  abused.  The  laws  and  regula- 
tions which  suit  one  part  do  not  suit  another,  and  there  can  be 
no  security  that  the  majority  will  understand  these  various  in- 
terests, nor  always  regard  them  when  they  are  understood.  But 
if  the  powers  of  the  general  government  are  limited  to  those 
objects  in  which  there  is  a  common  interest,  and  the  local  or 
peculiar  interests  are  left  to  subordinate,  but  independent 
authorities,  a  large  extent  of  country  seems  no  more  incompati- 
ble with  a  republic  than  any  other  form  of  government.  To 
apply  these  remarks  to  the  United  States,  with  what  propriety 
of  language  could  our  government  be  called  a  republic,  if  all 


492  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

the  powers  now  vested  in  the  state  governments  were  centred 
in  the  general  government?  Would  they  be  capable  of  regu- 
lating the  law  between  master  and  slave  in  the  southern  states? 
Might  they  not,  in  their  zeal  to  put  an  end  to  this  relation,  re- 
enact  the  bloody  tragedy  of  St.  Domingo?  The  people  of  New 
England  have  also  their  peculiar  laws  and  favourite  usages, 
their  schools,  their  provisions  for  churches  and  roads:  could  they 
safely  trust  a  Congress  of  the  union  to  legislate  for  them  in 
these  favourite  and  truly  important  concerns?  If  there  were 
no  other  objection,  the  want  of  time  for  judicious  legislation  for 
such  multifarious  objects,  would  be  an  insuperable  one;  and  as' 
bad  laws  and  rules  are  better  than  none,  a  substitute  would  be 
found  by  vesting  large  discretionary  powers  in  agents. 

To  attain  the  greatest  degree  of  civil  freedom  and  useful  le- 
gislation practicable,  it  seems  indispensable  to  have  some  distri- 
bution of  power  like  the  following:  1.  The  supreme  government 
should  have  powers  extending  as  far  as  the  general  concurrence 
of  interests,  and  then  its  powers  should  stop.  2.  Large  portions 
of  the  territory,  such  as  states,  having  a  much  closer  resem- 
blance of  interests,  should  have  the  power  of  regulating  those 
interests;  and  3.  Each  individual  should  retain  the  power  of 
regulating  his  own  peculiar  concerns  or  those  of  his  family;  as 
the  power  to  direct  the  labour,  provide  and  distribute  the  food, 
clothing,  instruction,  and  other  wants  of  each  individual  of  the 
family.  It  will  be  perceived  that  in  this  series  of  powers  the 
ramifications  became  more  numerous  as  they  became  more  mi- 
nute. That  the  general  government  which  has  the  largest 
powers,  has  also  the  fewest.  The  state  governments,  which  are 
next  in  authority,  have  many  more  powers;  and  the  powers 
of  a  master  of  a  family  which  is  the  least,  extends  to  nearly 
every  act  of  those  who  are  subjects  in  his  little  domain.  Now 
in  all  these  cases  it  is  essential  that  those  who  exercise  political 
power  should  be  taken  from  the  class  on  whom  their  power  is 
to  act,  and  should  at  stated  times  return  to  it  again.  And 
though  by  these  provisions  we  have  all  the  security  that 
is  attainable  against  an  abuse  of  power,  yet  under  a  constitu- 
tion thus  guarded  we  must  expect  to  find  much  imperfection. 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  493 

There  will  be,  in  greater  or  less  portions,  injustice  and  folly, 
fraud,  violence,  and  neglect  of  duty;  and  the  difference  between 
the  best  and  the  worst  government  is  only  as  to  the  proportion 
of  these  alloys.  Mr.  Jefferson  here  shows  the  light  in  which  he 
regarded  the  French  revolution,  tarnished  and  stigmatized  as  it 
was  with  violence  and  crime.  "It  is  unfortunate,"  he  remarks, 
"that  the  efforts  of  mankind  to  recover  the  freedom  of  which 
they  have  been  so  long  deprived,  will  be  accompanied  with  vio- 
lence, with  errors  and  even  with  crimes.  But  while  we  weep 
over  the  means,  we  must  pray  for  the  end." 

In  the  summer  of  the  same  year  Mr.  Genet  was  recalled,  un- 
der circumstances  which  made  it  doubtful  whether  it  was  not 
more  in  consequence  of  the  overthrow  of  the  political  party  to 
which  he  was  attached,  than  on  account  of  his  disrespectful 
conduct  towards  the  American  administration;  and  he  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Mr.  Fauchet,  who  discharged  his  duty  to  his  coun- 
try with  equal  fidelity,  but  much  greater  discretion.  At  the 
same  time  Mr.  Gouverneur  Morris  was  recalled  at  the  instance 
of  the  French  government,  and  Mr.  Monroe  appointed  in  his 
place.  The  first  named  gentleman  was  possessed  of  brilliant 
talents,  great  address, and  an  unceasing  desire  to  exercise  them  in 
the  pursuit  of  distinction,  pleasure,  or  profit,  and  no  less  readily 
for  others'  benefit  than  his  own.  With  some  friendly  prepossessions 
towards  rank  and  station,  and  no  very  exalted  ideas  of  popular 
wisdom  or  virtue,  he  had  soon  formed  an  unfavourable  opinion 
of  the  French  revolution,  its  agents,  and  its  results;  and  forget- 
ting the  caution  and  neutrality  which  became  him,  both  as  a 
foreigner  and  a  public  minister,  he  had  yielded  to  his  sympa- 
thies, and  volunteered  his  services  in  favour  of  Louis  XVI.; 
and  his  agency  and  advice  seems  to  have  been  received  by  the 
monarch  and  his  friends  with  the  most  entire  confidence.  But 
it  was  impossible  that  he  could  thus  take  sides  with  the  court 
without  its  being  discovered  by  their  lynx-eyed  opponents,  and 
consequently  resented.  He  had  therefore  been  for  some  time 
an  object  of  jealousy  and  dislike  to  the  ardent  friends  of  the  re- 
volution, both  in  France  and  his  own  country,  until  the  recall  of 
Mr.  Genet,  requested  by  our  government,  afforded  a  decent  pre- 


494  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

text  to  the  French  government  to  make  a  similar  request  of  the 
United  States. 

Mr.  Morris's  countrymen  made  a  just  estimate  of  his  talents 
and  accomplishments,  and  they  entertained  correct  opinions  of 
his  political  principles;  but  from  their  aversion  to  those  princi- 
ples and  his  reputation  for  gallantry  they  underrated  both  his 
patriotism  and  morals.  Amidst  all  his  devotion  to  the  fair,  ^nd 
his  partiality  for  the  privileged  orders,  he  mingled  a  respect  for 
virtue  and  a  lively  attachment  to  what  he  believed  to  be  the 
interests  of  his  country;  and  where  his  political  doctrines  did 
not  bias  his  judgment,  he  showed  great  penetration  and  sagacity 
in  scanning  the  motives  of  men,  and  in  his  anticipations  of  the 
future. 

His  successor,  though  less  fitted  for  exciting  admiration,  had 
qualities  which  are  more  certain  to  reward  their  possessor — in- 
dustry, perseverance,  and  a  jealous  sensibility  to  the  value  of 
character  and  the  good  opinion  of  mankind.  These,  without 
any  splendid  endowments  of  genius,  were  sufficient  to  carry  him 
forward  from  step  to  step,  until  he  reached  the  highest  power 
in  the  state;  and  if  he  met  with  difficulties  which  occasionally 
impeded  his  career,  or  if  he  may  be  considered  to  owe  his  good 
fortune  in  part  to  circumstances  entirely  fortuitous,  and  these 
circumstances  may  seem  to  detract  from  his  merit,  yet  it  must 
be  recollected  that  it  implies  no  small  praise  that  he  had  the 
judgment  and  energy  to  overcome  the  obstacles  in  the  first  case, 
or  to  profit  by  the  accidents  in  the  last.  An  ordinary  man 
would  have  been  capable  of  neither  resisting  the  one,  nor  of 
taking  advantage  of  the  other. 

The  discontents  in  Kentucky,  at  this  time,  were  the  greater  not 
merely  because  most  of  its  inhabitants  had  the  same  political 
sentiments  as  their  parent  state  of  Virginia,  and  of  course  be- 
longed to  the  democratic  party,  but  because  they  regarded  the 
navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  the  only  channel  by  which  they 
could  send  the  redundant  products  of  their  fertile  soil  to  market, 
as  in  great  danger;  and  they  made  loud  and  vehement  complaints 
against  the  administration,  either  because  they  thought  that 
their  interests  had  not  been  sufficiently  protected  by  the  admi- 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  495 

nistration,  or  they  wished  to  rouse  it  to  a  more  decisive  course 
towards  Spain.  Their  language  bore  so  much  more  the  cha- 
racter of  threat  and  defiance  than  that  of  petitioners  invoking 
the  aid  of  the  government,  that  it  impressed  men's  minds,  gene- 
rally, with  the  belief  that  they  set  little  value  on  the  union;  and 
that  as  soon  as  they  felt  themselves  sufficiently  strong  to  effect 
a  separation,  and  to  support  an  independent  government,  they 
would  break  off  their  connexion  with  the  Atlantic  states.  Time 
has  however  shown  the  fallacy  of  this  opinion,  for  there  is  no 
part  of  the  United  States  which  has  manifested  more  attachment 
to  the  union,  and  there  certainly  is  none  that  has  a  more  direct 
or  stronger  interest  in  its  preservation;  since  it  is  only  by  means 
of  their  profiting  by  the  naval  resources  of  the  Atlantic  states 
that  they  can  secure  to  themselves  the  unrestricted  navigation 
of  the  river,  which  is  the  principal  channel  of  their  commerce. 

The  opposition  to  an  increase  of  taxes  by  the  democratic 
party  seemed  somewhat  inconsistent  with  their  strong  repug- 
nance to  a  national  debt,  and  to  the  reproach  against  the  fede- 
ralists that  their  object  was  to  perpetuate  it.  They  grounded 
their  objection  however  on  the  species  of  tax  which  was  resort- 
ed to — the  excise — as  one  which  was  odious  in  its  character, 
unequal  in  its  operation,  and  which,  by  the  number  of  officers 
required  for  its  collection,  took  much  more  money  from  the 
people  than  it  brought  into  the  treasury.  This  last  argument 
indeed  was  extended  even  to  duties  on  imports,  and  it  was  main- 
tained by  many  of  the  opposition  that  all  the  revenue  required 
by  the  government  ought  to  be  raised  by  direct  taxes;  partly 
because  as  the  people  will  then  know  what  they  pay,  they  will 
be  certain  to  look  closely  into  the  public  disbursements,  and 
thus  prevent  that  wasteful  expenditure  to  which  all  govern- 
ments are  prone,  and  partly  because  the  money  thus  collected 
from  the  people  goes  immediately  into  the  treasury,  whereas  in 
the  case  of  indirect  taxes,  the  consumer  is  made  to  refund  to 
the  merchant,  not  only  the  tax  he  has  advanced,  but  the  ordi- 
nary mercantile  profit  on  the  tax  besides. 

This  opinion  was  very  current  before  the  party  who  advanced 
it  was  called  upon  to  put  it  into  practice.  They  then  discover- 


496  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

ed  that  these  arguments  had  not  the  weight  which  had  been 
honestly  imputed  to  them.  That  if  an  indirect  tax  was 
less  felt,  because  it  was  less  perceived,  by  reason  of  its  being 
mixed  up  with  the  price,  that  was  a  positive  recommendation; 
and  to  choose  a  tax  because  it  was  more  felt  would  be  incur- 
ring a  positive  evil  to  avoid  the  chance  of  one — as  if  one  was  to 
make  his  food  unpalatable  to  prevent  his  eating  too  much.  The 
objection  moreover  is  inconsistent  with  the  capacity  of  the  peo- 
ple for  self-government,  as  it  supposes  them  unable  to  judge  of 
the  prudence  of  their  agents,  except  through  the  medium  of  their 
feelings.  Besides,  it  is  as  reasonable  to  suppose  that  this  in- 
creased sensibility  to  the  pressure  of  a  tax  may  make  them  too 
parsimonious,  and  grudge  a  proper  expenditure,  as  that  the 
want  of  that  feeling  will  make  them  tolerate  extravagance. 
With  regard  to  the  second  objection,  that  may  be  true  in  popu- 
lous countries,  but  is  certainly  not  so  in  this;  for  the  whole  ex- 
pense of  collecting  the  custom  house  duties  has  been  but  about 
3£  per  cent.,  whilst  that  of  direct  taxes  has  been  upwards  of 
25  per  cent.  But  the  undiscriminating  application  of  European 
maxims  to  the  United  States,  which  was  thus  made  by  the  re- 
publican party,  is  an  error  with  which  they  are  much  less  fre- 
quently chargeable  than  their  opponents. 

At  the  end  of  the  year  Mr.  Jefferson's  late  associate  and  rival 
also  resigned  his  office,  impelled,  as  it  was  generally  understood, 
by  the  insufficiency  of  his  salary,  and  with  the  intention  of  re- 
suming the  practice  of  the  law. 

This  gentleman,  though  labouring  under  the  disadvantage  of 
not  being  a  native  of  the  United  States,  and  of  having  a  theoreti- 
cal preference  for  monarchical  government,  had  a  political  in- 
fluence in  this  country  second  only  to  that  of  General  Washing- 
ton and  Mr.  Jefferson.  He  was  a  member,  and  no  doubt  an 
active  and  efficient  member,  of  the  convention  which  formed 
the  federal  constitution,  and  he  did  more  than  any  other  indivi- 
dual in  recommending  that  constitution  to  the  adoption  of  the 
people.  The  essays,  under  the  title  of  the  Federalist,  in  which 
he  had  the  co-operation  of  Mr.  Madison  and  Mr.  Jay,  have  been 
regarded  as  so  able  and  sound  an  exposition  of  that  instrument,  that 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  497 

they  are  generally  received  as  authority  by  all.  He  afterwards, 
as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  had  the  same  overruling  agency 
in  shaping  the  measures  of  the  administration,  and  even  those 
of  the  legislature — the  funding  of  the  public  debt,  the  assump- 
tion of  the  state  debts,  the  system  of  revenue;  and  although 
the  bank  is  understood  to  have  been  planned  by  Mr.  Robert 
Morris,  that  measure  as  well  as  the  others  were  recommended 
by  his  pen  and  his  personal  influence  to  the  adoption  of  Con- 
gress. In  his  report  on  the  subject  of  manufactures,  the  views 
and  argument  which  are  to  be  urged  in  favour  of  giving  them 
encouragement,  are  so  full,  that  during  a  course  of  more  than 
forty  years,  scarcely  any  thing  has  been  added  to  them.  His 
political  opinions  have  already  been  noticed.  They  were  tinged 
probably  by  his  early  impressions,  as  well  as  by  his  associations 
in  New  York.  He  was  a  warm  friend  and  an  open  enemy.  His 
frankness,  generosity,  and  manly  independence  were  such  as  to 
command  the  respect  of  his  adversaries,  as  well  as  the  unbound- 
ed attachment  of  his  friends. 

The  hostilities  with  the  Indians  on  the  Ohio,  which  had  lasted 
so  long,  and  which  had  cost  the  United  States  so  dearly,  in  pro- 
portion to  the  numbers  engaged,  were  brought  to  a  close  this 
year  by  General  Wayne,  who  obtained  over  them  a  decisive 
victory  at  the  battle  of  the  Miamis.  This  was  the  last  struggle 
of  that  brave,  but  ill-fated  race,  on  the  Ohio,  until  that  of  1811, 
which  resulted  in  the  cession  of  their  lands  to  the  whites  for 
ever. 

On  Mr.  Madison's  receiving  Mr.  Jefferson's  letter  in  which 
the  former  was  urged  to  be  a  candidate  for  the  office  of  the 
presidency,  after  the  retirement  of  General  Washington,  Mr. 
Madison  on  the  23d  of  March  expressed  a  similar  wish  as  to  him- 
self. To  this  letter  he  replies  on  the  27th  of  April,  1795.  He 
there  speaks  more  explicitly  than  he  had  done  before.  He  says 
that  as  to  himself,  the  subject  had  been  thoroughly  weighed  and 
decided  on,  and  that  by  his  "retirement  from  office,"  he  had  meant 
from  all  office  high  or  low  without  exception.  That  "the  sub- 
ject had  not  been  presented  to  him  by  uny  vanity  of  his  own." 
"That  the  idea  had  been  forced  upon  him  by  continual  insinua- 

VOL.  I.— G3 


498  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

tions  in  the  public  papers,  while  he  was  in  office."  The  subject 
being  once  presented  to  him,  his  own  quiet  required  that  he 
should  face  it  and  examine  it.  That  "he  did  so  thoroughly,  and 
had  no  difficulty  to  see  that  every  reason  which  had  determined 
him  to  retire  from  the  office  he  then  held,  operated  more  strong- 
ly against  that  which  was  insinuated  to  be  his  object."  In  ad- 
dition to  the  considerations  which  then  determined  him,  he  says 
"the  special  one,  which  supervened  on  his  retirement,  still  more 
insuperably  barred  the  door  to  it.  The  state  of  his  health;  the 
attention  which  his  affairs  required;  and  above  all,  the  delights 
he  felt  in  the  society  of  his  family  and  in  agricultural  pursuits; 
and  that  "the  little  spice  of  ambition,  which  he  had  in  his  younger 
days  had  long  since  evaporated."  He  then  adds,  "In  stating  to 
you  the  heads  of  reasons  which  have  produced  my  determina- 
tion, I  do  not  mean  an  opening  for  further  discussion,  or  that  I 
may  be  reasoned  out  of  it.  The  question  is  for  ever  closed  with 
me;  my  sole  object  is  to  avail  myself  of  the  first  opening  ever 
given  me  from  a  friendly  quarter,  (and  I  could  not  with  decency 
do  it  before,)  of  preventing  any  division  or  loss  of  votes,  which 
might  be  fatal  to  the  republican  interest."  He  then  intimates 
his  wish  that  the  votes  of  the  party  should  be  given  to  Mr. 
Madison. 

For  some  time  before  the  arrival  of  the  treaty  with  Great 
Britain,  negotiated  by  Mr.  Jay,  there  had  been  a  suspension 
of  hostilities  between  the  two  parties,  and  both  had  been  em- 
ployed in  the  interval  in  burnishing  their  arms  for  a  renewal 
of  the  conflict,  whenever  that  negotiation  was  brought  to  a  close, 
whatever  should  be  the  issue. 

The  treaty  arrived  early  in  March.  On  the  8th  of  June  the 
Senate  were  convened  for  the  purpose  of  considering  it,  and  on 
the  24th  of  the  month  they  advised  its  ratification  by  the  requi- 
site majority,  with  the  exception  of  the  12th  article,  which, 
meaning  to  prohibit  the  export  from  the  United  States  in  Ame- 
rican vessels  of  such  articles  as  they  had  previously  imported 
from  the  West  Indies,  enumerated  cotton  among  them,  it  not 
being  known  to  Mr.  Jay  that  this  commodity  was  becoming  an 
article  of  export  from  the  United  States. 

While  the  administration  was  deliberating  on  the  effect  of 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  499 

this  qualified  ratification,  intelligence  was  received  that  the 
order  of  council  for  the  seizure  of  provisions  going  to  France 
•was  renewed.  The  president  then  determined  not  to  ratify  the 
treaty,  if  that  order  was  enforced. 

In  the  mean  time  Mr.  James  Thompson  Mason,  one  of  the 
senators  from  Virginia,  conceiving  himself  absolved  from  the 
obligations  of  secrecy  which  had  generally  attached  to  the 
executive  duties  of  the  senate,  published  in  a  Philadelphia  jour- 
nal an  abstract  of  the  treaty;  on  which  the  whole  of  the  oppo- 
sition, that  is  the  entire  democratic  party,  from  one  end  of  the 
union  to  the  other,  exclaimed  with  one  voice  that  it  had  tame- 
ly and  basely  surrendered  the  honour,  rights,  and  interests  of 
the  United  States  at  the  feet  of  their  most  deadly  enemy. 

Meetings  were  held  in  all  the  large  towns  reprobating  the 
treaty,  and  most  of  the  newspapers  took  the  same  ground.  The 
animosity  to  England  and  the  attachment  to  France,  who 
had  already  begun  that  career  of  military  success  which  filled 
all  Europe  with  astonishment  and  alarm,  were  now  at  their 
height;  and  they  were  of  themselves  sufficient  to  ensure  the 
condemnation  of  any  treaty  with  England,  however  fair  or  re- 
ciprocal. But  now  that  these  feelings  have  passed  away  we 
find  in  that  instrument  but  too  much  cause  to  justify  their  live- 
ly dissatisfaction.  The  federal  party  believing  that  war  with 
England,  with  whom  they  desired  peace,  and  a  closer  connexion 
with  France,  whom  they  at  once  hated  and  feared,  would  be  the 
consequence  of  a  rejection  of  the  treaty,  used  all  their  efforts 
to  overcome  the  strong  repugnance  with  which  it  was  received 
by  the  great  body  of  the  people;  but,  as  is  usual  on  such  occa- 
sions, their  exertions  had  little  effect  except  with  their  own 
party.  Mr.  Jay  was  openly  reviled  for  having  negotiated  the 
treaty;  the  Senate  treated  no  better  for  advising  its  ratification, 
was  charged  with  downright  corruption,  and  General  Washing- 
ton escaped  an  imputation  on  his  integrity  only  to  endure  the 
charge  of  weakness  of  understanding,  and  of  being  the  dupe  of 
the  British  faction  around  him.  In  this  state  of  exasperation 
and  mistrust,  they  looked  to  the  House  of  Representatives  for 
relief  by  refusing  to  make  the  appropriations  and  to  pass  the 


500  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

laws  necessary  to  carry  this  odious  treaty  into  effect,  and  vehe- 
ment appeals  were  made  to  them  throi  /jrh  the  people,  in  the 
interval',  by  means  of  pamphlets  and  newspapers. 

At  this  time  Mr.  Jefferson,  adverting  to  a  pamphlet  written 
by  Alexander  Hamilton  in  defence  of  the  treaty,  applied  to  Mr. 
Madison  to  answer  it.  He  thus  pays  a  tribute  to  the  talents  of 
his  rival:  "Hamilton  is  really  a  Colossus  to  the  anti-republican 
party;  without  numbers  he  is  a  host  within  himself.  They 
have  got  themselves  into  a  defile,  where  they  might  be  finished; 
but  too  much  security  on  the  republican  part  will  give  time  to 
his  talents  and  indefatigableness  to  extricate  them.  In  truth 
when  he  comes  forward  there  is  nobody  but  yourself  who  can 
meet  him." — 

"The  merchants  were  certainly  (except  those  of  them  who 
are  English)  as  open-mouthed  at  first  against  the  treaty  as 
any.  But  the  general  expression  of  indignation  has  alarmed 
them  for  the  strength  of  the  government.  They  have  feared 
the  shock  would  be  too  great,  and  have  chosen  to  tack  about 
and  support  both  treaty  and  government,  rather  than  risk  the 
government."  He  thus  concludes:  "There  appears  a  pause  at 
present  in  the  public  sentiment  which  may  be  followed  by  a 
revulsion.  This  is  the  effect  of  the  desertion  of  the  merchants, 
of  the  president's  chiding  answer  to  Boston  and  Richmond,  of 
the  writings  of  Curtius  and  Camillus,  and  of  the  quietism  into 
which  people  naturally  fall  after  first  sensations  are  over.  For 
God's  sake  take  up  your  pen,  and  give  a  fundamental  reply  to 
Curtius  and  Camillus." 

He  seems  to  have  soon  anticipated  that  opposition  to  the 
treaty  which  was  afterwards  made  by  the  House  of  Represen- 
tatives, and  which  gave  rise  to  the  delicate  question  of  the  pre- 
cise boundary  between  the  legislative  and  the  treaty  making 
power  under  the  constitution.  This  expedient  for  annulling  a 
treaty  which  he  regarded  in  so  odious  a  light  the  more  readily 
presented  itself  to  his  mind,  as  it  had  been  one  of  the  subjects  of 
collision  between  himself  and  Colonel  Hamilton  in  the  cabinet. 
It  has  been  several  times  agitated  since,  but  on  no  occasion  so 
fully  as  in  the  succeeding  session  in  the  debate  on  this  treaty. 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  501 

He  speaks  of  the  treaty  in  a  letter  to  Governor  Rutledge  of 
South  Carolina,  dated  November  30th,  1795.  "I  join  with  you 
in  thinking  the  treaty  an  execrable  thing.  But  both  negotia- 
tors must  have  understood,  that,  as  there  were  articles  in  it 
which  could  not  be  carried  into  execution  without  the  aid  of 
legislatures  on  both  sides,  therefore  it  must  be  referred  to  them, 
and  that  these  legislatures  being  free  agents,  would  not  give  it 
their  support  if  they  disapproved  it.  I  trust  the  popular  branch 
of  our  legislature  will  disapprove  of  it,  and  thus  rid  us  of  this 
infamous  act,  which  is  really  nothing  more  than  a  treaty  of  alli- 
ance between  England  and  the  Anglomen  of  this  country  against 
the  legislature  and  people." 

This  treaty,  which  was  the  occasion  of  so  much  excitement  at 
the  time,  and  which  subsequently  had  so  much  influence  on 
the  foreign  relations  of  the  United  States,  and  the  fortunes  of 
its  political  parties,  deserves  an  especial  notice.  Its  purpose 
was  threefold;  to  settle  past  differences,  ancient  and  recent;  to 
determine  some  principles  of  the  law  of  nations,  particularly  the 
relative  rights  of  belligerents  and  neutrals;  and  lastly,  to  regu- 
late their  future  commerce  and  friendly  intercourse. 

With  a  view  to  the  first  object,  provision  was  made  for  ascer- 
taining the  boundary  both  on  the  north-east  and  north-west 
corner  of  the  United  States.  Great  Britain  agreed  to  surrender 
the  military  posts,  still  retained  by  her,  contrary  to  the  treaty 
of  1783,  reserving  certain  rights  to  British  settlers  in  their 
vicinity,  and  to  pay  American  citizens  for  recent  illegal  cap- 
tures, wherever  compensation  could  not  be  obtained  in  the  ordi- 
nary course  of  judicial  proceedings.  The  United  States,  on 
their  part,  agreed  to  compensate  British  creditors  for  all 
damages  sustained  by  them  in  the  recovery  of  their  debts  in 
America,  arising  from  legal  impediments;  and  to  pay  for  all  cap- 
tures of  British  property  made  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
United  States.  These  several  stipulations  were  to  be  executed 
by  different  sets  of  commissioners,  to  be  appointed  by  the  par- 
ties. It  was  also  stipulated  that  the  citizens  or  subjects  of  one 
nation  then  holding  lands  in  the  territories  of  the  other,  might 
continue  to  hold  them. 


502  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

To  the  second  head  may  be  referred  the  following  stipula- 
tions: It  was  agreed,  in  behalf  of  the  neutral  nation,  that  its 
vessels,  having  on  board  contraband  articles,  should  be  carried 
to  the  most  convenient  port;  and  should  not  be  liable  to  confis- 
cation on  entering  a  blockaded  port  without  notice;  where 
provisions  by  the  modern  law  of  nations  become  contraband 
they  should  be  paid  for,  and  the  neutral  be  indemnified  for  deten- 
tion; neutral  property  found  in  a  besieged  place,  after  surren- 
der, to  be  restored;  commanders  of  privateers  to  be  answerable 
for  damages  done  to  neutrals,  for  which  purpose  they  should  be 
required  to  give  bond  and  security.  In  behalf  of  the  belligerent, 
it  was  agreed  that  not  only  all  military  stores,  but  every  thing 
used  in  the  equipment  of  vessels,  except  fir  planks  and  un- 
wrought  iron,  should  be  deemed  contraband;  ships  of  war  of 
one  party  to  be  entitled  to  hospitable  reception  in  the  ports  of 
the  other;  all  prizes  to  have  free  admission  into  the  ports  of 
either  party,  free  from  examination,  fee,  or  detention;  the  citi- 
zens or  subjects  of  one  party  not  to  engage  in  hostilities  against 
the  other.  Privateers  of  a  third  party  not  to  arm  or  sell  their 
prizes  in  the  ports  of  either;  nor,  when  they  had  made  prize 
on  the  other,  to  receive  shelter,  except  from  stress  of  weather; 
the  neutral  to  permit  no  property  to  be  captured  within  its  juris- 
diction. In  case  of  war  between  the  parties,  there  should  be 
no  confiscation  of  private  property;  the  merchants  of  one  nation 
residing  within  the  territories  of  the  other,  might,  under  certain 
conditions,  continue  to  reside  there;  and  reprisals  were  never  to 
be  made  without  a  previous  demand  of  satisfaction  and  proof  of 
injury. 

For  the  regulation  of  their  commercial  intercourse,  the  par- 
ties agree  to  permit  a  free  trade  and  intercourse  to  their  citi- 
zens and  subjects  respectively,  on  either  side  of  their  common 
boundary,  (the  limits  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  excepted,) 
and  to  the  Indians  within  their  respective  limits;  the  mutual 
navigation  of  their  inland  waters  was  permitted  with  thefollowing 
exceptions:  American  vessels  were  not  to  enter  any  British  sea 
port,  or  any  river  below  the  highest  port  of  entry  (with  a  single 
unimportant  exception,)  and  British  vessels  were  not  to  enter 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  503 

any  river  of  the  United  States  above  the  highest  port  of  entry, 
except  that  every  port  and  place  on  the  Mississippi  should  be 
open  to  both  parties.  Between  the  British  territories  in  Europe, 
and  all  the  territories  of  the  United  States,  freedom  of  commerce 
and  navigation  was  stipulated  on  terms  of  entire  reciprocity; 
each  party  was  admitted  into  the  ports  of  the  other  on  the 
terms  of  the  most  favoured  nation,  both  as  to  duties  and  prohi- 
bitions; and  in  furtherance  of  this  object,  the  United  States 
were  restricted  from  increasing  their  discriminating  duties  in 
favour  of  American  vessels;  and  to  Great  Britain  was  reserved 
the  right  of  countervailing  those  which  then  existed.  . 

By  the  12th  article,  American  vessels,  not  exceeding  70  tons, 
were  permitted  to  carry  to  the  West  Indies  American  products 
not  prohibited,  on  the  same  terms  as  British  vessels,  and  to  ex- 
port in  like  manner  West  India  products  direct  to  the  United 
States;  but  so  long  as  this  trade  should  be  permitted,  the  United 
States  agree  not  to  export  in  their  vessels,  molasses,  sugar,  cof- 
fee, cocoa,  or  cotton.  The  same  trade  was  secured  to  British 
vessels. 

A  trade  to  the  British  settlements  in  the  East  Indies,  in  arti- 
cles not  prohibited,  was  also  permitted  to  American  vessels,  pay- 
ing the  same  tonnage  duty  and  charges  as  British  vessels;  but 
the  United  States  agree  to  carry  the  products  of  those  settle- 
ments only  to  their  own  ports;  not  to  engage  in  the  coasting 
trade,  and  that  their  citizens  are  not  to  reside  there.  Provision 
was  made  for  the  appointment  of  consuls,  and  for  the  surrender  of 
persons  charged  with  murder  or  forgery. 

The  articles  respecting  boundary,  compensation,  interior 
commerce,  and  confiscation  were  made  perpetual,  and  the 
other  articles  were  limited  to  twelve  years,  or  two  years  after 
the  war,  at  the  option  of  either  party. 

Passing  by  the  numerous  objections  which  originated  in  na- 
tional prejudice  and  party  feeling,  or  artfully  appealed  to 
them,  we  may  notice  those  which  had  a  more  solid  foundation. 
In  adjusting  the  mutual  claims  of  the  parties  the  treaty  was 
grossly  unequal.  1.  While  it  secured  to  the  British  creditor  in- 
demnity for  the  supposed  injustice  of  the  state  legislatures  and 


504  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

courts,  not  only  as  to  the  principal  of  their  debts,  but  also  as  to 
the  interest  during  the  war,  regardless  of  the  unanswered  rea- 
soning of  Mr.  Jefferson,  it  made  no  provision  whatever  for  the 
negroes  who  had  been  carried  off,  contrary  to  the  treaty  of 
peace.  2.  It  made  no  compensation  for  the  detention  of  the 
posts,  by  which  American  citizens  had  been  cut  off  from  the 
benefits  of  the  fur  trade;  and  which  detention  Great  Britain 
had  justified  by  the  legal  obstacles  experienced  by  British  credi- 
tors. Justice  required  that  where  the  injury  was  mutual,  com- 
pensation should  be  so;  instead  of  which,  a  new  condition,  in  be- 
half of  British  settlers,  was  annexed  to  their  surrender.  3.  The 
right  to  navigate  the  Mississippi,  which  had  been  conceded  to 
Great  Britain  by  the  treaty  of  1783,  under  the  mistaken  idea 
that  it  extended  to  her  territory,  was  now  renewed,  and  great- 
ly enlarged,  when  the  mistake  was  discovered;  though  the  same 
principle  of  national  law  was  not  extended  to  the  United 
States,  as  to  the  navigation  of  the  St.  Lawrence;  so  that  an  un- 
founded claim  of  a  small  tract  of  unsettled  country  to  an  outlet 
to  the  ocean,  was  allowed  to  Great  Britain,  while  the  unques- 
tioned claim  of  the  United  States  to  a  like  outlet  for  a  settled 
country,  of  great  extent,  was  denied.  4.  In  extending  the  list 
of  contraband  articles  farther  than  the  United  States  had  done 
by  other  treaties,  they  gave  an  advantage  to  Great  Britain,  at 
the  expense  of  France,  and  surrendered  the  protection  of  the 
neutral  flag  to  an  important  branch  of  their  staple  products; 
naval  stores,  masts,  and  spars.  5.  In  the  article  admitting  pro- 
visions to  be  contraband,  the  United  States  gave  their  sanction 
to  an  innovation  in  national  law  that  was  peculiarly  injurious 
to  them,  and  against  which  they  had  so  loudly  complained  after 
the  British  order  of  the  8th  of  June.  6.  British  vessels  had  free 
admission  into  all  the  ports  of  the  United  States,  while  Ameri- 
can vessels  were  excluded  from  the  British  ports  in  America, 
and  are  admitted  into  the  West  Indies  only  on  conditions  which 
preclude  its  acceptance,  for  besides  the  restriction  as  to  cotton, 
the  article  would  deprive  the  United  States  of  a  gainful  branch 
of  their  commerce  in  carrying  colonial  produce  to  Europe,  and 
moreover,  limits  the  conceded  trade  to  vessels  of  too  small  a 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  505 

burthen  to  engage  in  the  lumber  trade,  or  to  compete  with 
larger  vessels.  7.  The  trade  from  America  to  the  East  Indies, 
by  which  dollars  were  exchanged  for  India  manufactures,  had 
been  permitted  before  the  treaty,  as  being  very  convenient  to 
the  East  India  Company,  was  now  subjected  to  the  new  restric- 
tion of  being  direct  to  the  United  States.  8.  Whilst  Great 
Britain  thus  rigidly  insisted  on  her  colonial  monopoly,  and  re- 
laxed it  only  on  the  hardest  conditions,  the  United  States,  by  the 
article  concerning  discriminating  and  countervailing  duties, 
deprived  themselves  of  their  only  means  of  protecting  their  com- 
merce and  navigation.  9.  Though  the  United  States  acknow- 
ledged every  claim  advanced  by  Great  Britain,  and  made  com- 
pensation for  every  injury,  the  greatest  of  the  wrongs  sustained 
by  them,  the  impressment  of  their  seamen,  was  left  unredressed 
and  unnoticed. 

In  addition  to  these  objections,  which  so  strikingly  exhibit  the 
disadvantages  under  which  a  weak  power  negotiates  with  a 
strong  one,  it  maybe  remarked  that  in  those  parts  of  the  treaty 
which  have  the  appearance  of  reciprocity,  the  benefit  is,  by  the 
different  circumstances  of  the  parties,  principally  on  the  part  of 
Great  Britain.  Thus,  the  provisions  in  favour  of  aliens  holding 
lands,  and  of  resident  foreign  merchants;  against  the  sequestra- 
tion of  debts  and  private  property;  and  against  reprisals,  operate 
in  favour  of  twenty,  or  perhaps  fifty  British  subjects  for  one 
American  citizen.  Even  in  the  article  which  permitted  each 
party  to  carry  on  the  fur  trade  within  the  territories  of  the 
other,  by  which  the  United  States  appeared  to  gain  more  than 
they  gave,  the  advantage,  by  reason  of  the  reserved  rights  of 
the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  and  the  established  course  of  trade, 
was  greatly  on  the  side  of  Great  Britain.  The  United  States 
having  made  so  many  concessions  to  liberal  principles  for  the 
advantage  of  Great  Britain,  might  surely  have  expected  some 
extension  of  the  same  principles  for  their  benefit,  by  abolishing 
privateering,  or,  at  least,  the  right  of  search  for  enemy's  goods. 
The  defenders  of  the  treaty,  on  the  other  hand,  insisted  on 
the  solid  advantages  of  obtaining  possession  of  the  western  posts, 
by  which  a  profitable  fur  trade  would  be  opened  to  the  United 
VOL.  I.— 64 


506  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

States,  and  the  danger  of  Indian  hostility  avoided;  on  the  large 
amount  the  merchants  would  receive  for  their  property  illegally 
condemned  by  the  British  courts  of  vice-admiralty;  and  lastly, 
that  the  treaty  was  the  only  alternative  of  war,  which,  besides 
its  direct  burdens  and  evils,  would  deprive  the  country  of  the 
golden  harvest  it  was  then  reaping  from  its  neutrality.  These 
arguments,  which  appealed  so  forcibly  to  the  self-interest  of  in- 
dividuals, finally  and  with  difficulty  prevailed,  and  thus  Great 
Britain  obtained,  for  her  mercantile  community  indemnity  for 
the  past  and  security  for  the  /uture;  important  concessions  to 
her  belligerent  interests;  and  an  unresisting  submission  to  her 
colonial  monopoly,  at  no  other  expense  than  a  surrender  of  seven 
military  posts  within  the  limits  of  the  United  States,  which  she 
was  bound  by  treaty  to  surrender  twelve  years  before;  and  an 
agreement  to  pay  for  such  property  as  her  subjects  had  illegal- 
ly taken,  after  a  failure  to  recover  of  the  captors  in  the  due 
course  of  law.  Great  as  was  the  disparity  of  the  parties,  in 
point  of  power,  a  treaty  so  grossly  unequal  and  defective  could 
not  have  been  ratified,  if  the  immense  amount  of  property  cap- 
tured had  not  interested  so  many  in  its  ratification.  Nor  could 
this  power  of  bribing  American  merchants  with  their  own 
money  find  any  counteraction  among  individuals  from  the  money 
to  be  received  by  British  creditors,  as  that  was  to  be  paid  out 
of  the  treasury  of  the  United  States. 

On  the  main  question,  whether  more  good  or  evil  resulted  to 
the  United  States  from  the  ratification,  there  is  still  room  for  a 
difference  of  opinion.  To  trace  out  the  chain  of  causes  and 
effects  in  a  series  of  events  which  have  actually  occurred,  though 
not  always  an  easy  task,  may  yet  be  within  the  scope  of  human 
wisdom,  but  to  perceive  the  concatenation,  on  a  different  state 
of  facts,  is  beyond  the  reach  of  any  degree  of  sagacity;  and  no 
one  can  conclusively  show  that  had  the  treaty  been  rejected, 
war  would  have  been  the  certain  consequence;  or,  though  it  had, 
that  the  spirit  it  indicated  would  not  have  prevented  the  subse- 
quent spoliations  on  American  commerce,  and  the  war  of  1813; 
or  whether,  on  the  whole,  the  substantial  interest  of  the  nation 
would  have  been  thereby  promoted  or  impeded.  In  such  ques- 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  507 

tions  the  most  we  should  look  to  is,  whether  we  have  defended 
our  own  rights,  without  infringing  the  rights  of  others,  and  to 
approve  or  condemn  our  course,  according  as  it  has  conformed 
to  that  rule.  If  tried  by  this  test,  it  would  not  be  easy  to  defend 
the  treaty  of  1794. 

In  this  unqualified  condemnation  of  the  treaty  it  is  not  meant 
to  cast  any  imputation  on  the  zeal,  talents,  or  patriotism  of  its 
distinguished  negotiator.  They  are  unquestionable,  and  were 
never  more  faithfully  exerted.  But  the  misfortune  was,  that 
Mr.  Jay  left  the  United  States  under  the  firm  belief,  generally 
entertained  by  his  party,  that  peace  with  England,  the  preven- 
tion of  a  closer  fraternity  with  the  French,  and  the  continued 
ascendancy  of  the  federalists,  all  depended  on  his  making  a 
treaty.  Every  thing  then,  which  could  interest  either  his  pa- 
triotic or  party  feelings,  (and  neither  were  lukewarm,)  was 
hazarded  on  this  single  step.  The  moral  necessity  under  which 
he  acted  was  as  well  known  to  the  British  ministry  as  it  was 
felt  by  himself,  and  they  naturally  profited  by  it  to  insist  on 
every  thing  which  he  could  venture  to  give,  and  to  concede  no- 
thing which  they  could  decently  refuse. 


508 


CHAPTER  XXI. 


The  JBritish  Treaty  ratified  by  the  President  and  Senate.  Proceed- 
ings in  Congress.  The  right  of  Congress  to  refuse  appropriations 
for  executing  a  treaty  discussed.  Considerations  on  this  subject 
^drawnfrom  the  character  of  the  Federal  Government.  Letter  to  Mr. 
Giles.  The  duty  to  take  sides  between  conflicting  parties  considered. 
Construction  of  the  Constitution  as  to  the  power  in  Congress  to  esta- 
blish Post  Roads.  Letter  to  Mazzei.  Mr.  Jefferson's  defence  of  that 
letter— the  objections  to  it  considered.  General  Washington's  Fare- 
well Address.  Mr.  Adams  and  Mr.  Jefferson  rival  candidates  for  the 
Presidency.  Mr.  Jefferson  chosen  Vice- President— the  considera- 
tions which  reconciled  him  to  that  result. 

1796. 

THE  ferment  of  the  public  mind  went  on  increasing  until  the 
meeting  of  Congress,  when  all  eyes  were  turned  on  that  body  to 
see  the  course  it  would  take.  In  the  president's  opening  speech 
to  both  Houses  of  Congress,  he  had  mentioned  the  British  treaty 
and  stated  that  it  had  been  ratified  by  the  United  States,  with 
the  exception  of  a  part  of  the  12th  article,  since  which  the 
course  of  the  British  government  was  not  known.  The  answer 
by  the  House  of  Representatives,  though  not  explicit,  plainly 
intimated  disapprobation  of  the  treaty.  In  February,  the  treaty 
being  returned  with  the  ratification  of  the  British  government, 
it  was  announced  to  the  nation  by  proclamation,  a  copy  of  which 
was  sent  to  each  House  of  Congress  on  the  1st  of  March,  1796. 

This  course  was  censured  as  disrespectful  to  the  House  of 
Representatives,  and  as  implying  that  the  concurrence  of  the 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  ,    509 

legislature  was  not  necessary  to  give  validity  to  the  treaty.  On 
the  2nd  of  March  a  motion  for  a  copy  of  the  instructions  to  the 
minister  who  negotiated  the  treaty,  brought  on  a  debate  in 
which  the  powers  of  the  executive,  and  of  the  legislature,  with 
reference  to  treaties,  was  fully  investigated  by  all  the  talent 
and  zeal  which  either  party  could  put  in  requisition. 

It  was  contended  by  the  opposition  that  although  the  consti- 
tution had  vested  the  power  of  making  treaties  in  the  president 
and  senate,  without  restriction  or  qualification,  yet  that  did  not 
prevent  the  restriction  which  must  necessarily  arise  from  the 
express  provisions  of  the  constitution  itself:  or,  said  they,  suppose 
the  executive  were  to  make  a  treaty  on  any  matter  prohibited  to 
them  by  the  constitution,  or  which  required  powers  not  delegated 
to  them,  as  the  cession  of  a  state  or  even  a  portion  of  its  undis- 
puted territory,  would  the  legislative  branch  of  the  government 
be  bound  to  pass  laws  for  the  execution  of  such  an  unconstitu- 
tional treaty,  and  thus  sanction  a  breach  of  the  constitution? 
Assuredly  not.  Congress  then  has  the  power  in  some  cases  of 
refusing  its  co-operation,  and  whether  the  occasion  is  proper 
for  such  an  exercise  of  power  depends  upon  the  circumstances 
of  the  case,  to  be  decided  by  a  sound  discretion.  If  the  treaty 
is  capable  of  execution  without  the  intervention  of  the  legisla- 
ture, it  is  then  binding  on  the  nation,  and  it  becomes  a  rule  of 
action  on  the  citizen  as  much  as  any  legislative  enactment;  but 
if  such  interposition  is  necessary,  then  the  legislature  is  as  free 
to  act  as  the  executive,  and  to  grant  or  withhold  its  concurrence. 
It  is  true  that  it  may  be  both  uncourteous  and  impolitic  for  the 
legislature  to  take  this  course.  It  may  make  foreign  nations 
cautious  of  negotiating  with  a  nation  which  thus  has  a  power  in  • 
reserve  by  which  it  may  annul  or  ratify  a  treaty  according  to 
circumstances.  But  this  is  an  argument,  and  a  strong  one, 
against  the  exercise  of  the  right,  on  light  occasions,  rather  than 
against  its  existence.  The  considerations  of  impolicy  and  of  its 
giving  offence  to  the  power  treated  with  are  as  likely  to  have 
due  weight  with  the  legislature  as  with  the  executive,  and  this 
must  be  especially  supposed  in  this  country,  where  the  power  of 
declaring  war  is  confided  solely  to  the  legislature.  Without  this 


510  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

check  the  power  of  taxing,  the  power  of  naturalization,  the 
power  of  incorporating  other  states  into  the  union,  and  the 
power  of  regulating  the  entire  commerce  of  the  country,  which 
have  been  placed  solely  in  the  hands  of  the  legislature,  are 
virtually  transferred  to  the  senate. 

The  friends  of  the  administration  maintained  that  a  treaty 
made  pursuant  to  the  forms  prescribed  in  the  constitution  was 
binding  on  the  nation,  and  the  legislature  could  not  refuse  to 
co-operate  in  its  execution  without  a  violation  of  its  constitu- 
tional duty,  and  of  the  national  faith.  That  granting  it  would 
not  be  bound  to  execute  a  treaty  when  the  executive  had  trans- 
cended its  powers,  that  would  furnish  no  argument  where  such 
a  plea  could  not  be  pretended,  for  the  same  reason  that  an 
act  done  contrary  to  the  constitution  is  void,  an  act  done  in  con- 
formity to  that  instrument  is  binding. 

After  a  debate  of  a  fortnight,  the  resolution  was  carried  by  a 
majority  of  62  to  37.  The  president,  however,  refused  to  send 
a  copy  of  the  instructions,  and  stated  his  reasons  at  full  length, 
founded  on  the  executive  right  of  the  president  and  senate  to- 
make  treaties.  In  support  of  his  opinion  he  relies  on  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  convention  which  formed  the  constitution,  on  the 
previous  course  of  the  legislature  on  the  subject  of  treaties,  and 
on  the  obvious  inconveniences  and  impolicy  of  disclosing  the 
several  steps  taken  in  a  negotiation. 

Further  resolutions  were  then  moved  which  assert  the  right 
of  the  House  of  Representatives,  whenever  stipulations  are 
made  by  treaty  on  subjects  confided  by  the  constitution  to  Con- 
gress, to  deliberate  on  the  expediency  of  carrying  them  into 
execution,  which  were  carried  by  a  vote  of  57  to  35. 

When  subsequently  a  bill  was  introduced  to  carry  the  treaty 
into  effect,  its  merits  more  fully  and  formally  discussed,  and 
after  a  protracted  debate  in  a  committee  of  the  whole,  the  ex- 
pediency of  making  the  requisite  provisions  by  law  was  carried 
by  a  single  vote,  and  in  the  House,  by  a  majority  of  three;  con- 
siderations of  policy  and  expediency  inducing  some  to  join  in 
executing  an  unsatisfactory  treaty  rather  than  hazard  the 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  511 

peace  of  the  country,  which  seemed  to  be  the  almost  certain 
alternative. 

On  this  subject  it  may  be  further  remarked,  that  if  it  had 
been  intended  by  the  constitution  that  it  should  be  altogether 
discretionary  in  Congress  to  make  the  appropriations  necessary 
for  carrying  treaties  into  effect,  it  would  have  at  once  required 
the  concurrence  of  both  Houses,  and  not  have  left  so  important 
a  power  to  be  deduced  by  implication:  and  further,  that  this 
construction  would  greatly  lessen  the  weight  of  the  executive 
in  any  negotiation,  as  foreign  powers  could  never  be  certain  that 
a  treaty,  agreed  upon  by  the  two  governments,  would  not  be 
eventually  annulled  by  the  House  of  Representatives;  and  even 
when  there  was  no  motive  of  public  interest  to  urge  them  to 
such  a  course,  it  might  easily  happen,  in  the  struggles  of  parties, 
or  by  the  casual  influence  of  particular  individuals,  or  by  com- 
binations of  particular  factions  or  interests,  that  measures, 
really  salutary  and  likely  to  prove  popular,  would  be  for  a  time 
defeated.  On  these  accounts  nations  would  be  more  cautious 
of  treating  with  us,  except  only  in  those  matters  in  which 
there  was  no  room  for  difference  and  dissatisfaction. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  we  suppose  the  representatives  to  have 
no  discretion  whatever,  and  to  be  mere  machines  to  carry  into 
effect  any  treaty  which  it  may  please  the  president  to  make, 
and  the  senate  to  ratify,  it  would  remove  one  of  those  checks 
which  the  constitution  has  provided  to  guard  the  purses  of  the 
people,  such  as  we  see  in  the  provision  which  prohibits  duties 
on  exports — which  makes  duties  on  imports  equal — which  gives 
to  the  House  of  Representatives  the  exclusive  right  to  originate 
money  bills,  and  to  Congress  the  exclusive  right  of  laying  taxes, 
and  limits  the  objects — since  all  these  rights,  powers,  and  re- 
strictions might  be  annulled  by  treaty.  Thus,  for  instance,  a 
treaty  may  stipulate  the  cession  of  a  state,  or  the  part  of  a  state 
— a  heavy  tribute  to  a  foreign  nation — or  may  form  a  union  with 
Canada  or  Mexico — or,  adopting  the  Chinese  policy,  may  cede  our 
foreign  commerce  to  other  nations — or  enter  into  an  alliance  offen- 
sive and  defensive  with  the  blacks  of  Hayti.  In  such  cases  as 
these,  could  it  be  supposed  that  the  popular  branch  of  the  legis- 


512  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

lature  would  not,  and  ought  not  to  refuse  their  aid  to  carry  the 
treaty  into  effect?  If  this  be  admitted,  then  the  power  is  con- 
ceded, and  whether  it  shall  be  exercised  or  not  is  a  question  of 
circumstances.  It  is  perhaps  a  yet  more  satisfactory  reason  for 
this  construction,  that  this  is  all  the  check  which  the  treaty 
making  power  has,  since  the  constitution  contains  no  express 
restraint  whatever. 

But  to  this  again  it  is  objected  that  no  fair  argument  of  con- 
struction can  be  drawn  from  such  extreme  cases  which  may  be 
imagined  indeed  as  possible,  but  which  cannot  rationally  be  ex- 
pected: that  constitutions  are  made  on  the  supposition  that  men 
will  obey  the  common  impulses  of  self-interest,  of  common  sense, 
of  settled  habit — such  as  that  the  people  will  choose  representa- 
tives, and  that  they  will  find  representatives  willing  to  serve;  that 
the  state  legislatures  will  always  be  in  existence;  that  they  will 
choose  senators;  that  they  will  raise  revenue  and  disburse  it,  will 
keep  a  true  record  of  their  proceedings,  and  publish  their  laws 
when  made:  that  whenever  any  extraordinary  case  should 
arise  to  contradict  these  reasonable  expectations,  the  functions 
of  all  laws  and  constitutions  would  be  merged  in  the  great 
law  of  self-preservation,  and  that  no  more  argument  can  be 
drawn  from  such  rare  and  improbable  cases  to  show  the  fair 
meaning  of  the  constitution,  than  we  could  infer  a  general  right 
to  take  the  property  and  life  of  another,  from  the  fact  that  we 
might  rightly  take  his  bread  to  prevent  us  from  starving,  or  push 
him  from  a  plank  not  sufficient  to  support  two,  to  save  ourselves 
from  drowning.  That  reasoning,  therefore,  on  cases  of  probable 
recurrence,  the  president  and  senate,  whose  power  flows  ulti- 
mately from  the  people,  and  who  are  responsible  to  the  people, 
must  be  supposed  incapable  of  making  a  treaty  which  they 
did  not  believe  conducive  to  the  national  interests;  and  that 
supposing  them  to  have  thus  acted,  although  they  may  appear 
to  have  somewhat  mistaken  those  interests,  it  would  be  better 
in  general  that  the  contract  should  be  ratified  with  good  faith 
than  present  a  field  for  the  excesses  and  caprices  of  party  spirit; 
and,  if  the  constitution  is  found  defective,  to  circumscribe  by  an 
amendment  the  treaty  making  power  within  more  safe  and  pre- 
cise limits.  By  way  of  analogy,  it  may  be  remarked  that  the 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  513 

same  arguments  urged  against  the  obligation  to  provide  for  the 
execution  of  treaties,  drawn  from  their  possible  abuse,  applies 
to  the  appointing  power,  except  that  the  consequences  would 
be  commonly  less  serious.  That  department  may  appoint  to  a 
highly  responsible  office  an  unprincipled  and  dangerous  man; 
yet  it  has  never  been  supposed  that  in  such  a  case  the  House 
of  Representatives  had  the  right  to  withhold  his  salary. 

On  this  question  of  the  power  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
to  judge  of  the  expediency  of  carrying  a  treaty  into  effect, 
public  opinion  was  then  divided — the  authority  of  General 
Washington,  the  cabinet  and  senate  being  on  one  side,  and  that 
of  the  House  of  Representatives  on  the  other,  supported  by  the 
names  of  Jefferson,  Madison,  Gallatin,  and  their  friends;  and  the 
question  was  afterwards  revived  in  Mr.  Madison's  administration, 
when  the  House,  as  on  the  present  occasion,  made  the  appropria- 
tions without  deciding  the  constitutional  question. 

In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Giles  of  December  31,  1795,  Mr.  Jefferson 
expresses  himself  well  pleased  with  the  manner  in  which  the 
House  of  Representatives  had  testified  their  disapprobation  of 
the  treaty  by  their  answer  to  the  annual  speech.  He  then  makes 
some  free  comments  on  the  political  character  of  Mr.  Edmund 
Randolph  who  had  lately  sent  in  his  resignation  of  Secretary  of 
State,  in  consequence  of  some  injurious  imputations  contained 
in  a  letter  from  the  French  minister  Fauchet  to  his  government, 
and  which  had  been  intercepted  by  a  British  cruiser,  and  com- 
municated to  the  American  government.  He  has  no  hesitation 
in  acquitting  that  gentleman  of  the  charge  of  corruption,  but 
speaks  of  him  as  a  wavering  politician — giving  his  principles  to 
one  party  and  his  practice  to  the  other;  and  imputes  to  his 
want  of  firmness  the  president's  habitual  concert  with  the  Bri- 
tish and  anti-republican  party.  He  warmly  condemns  that  dis- 
position to  halt  between  two  parties,  and  deems  it  to  be  as  im- 
moral as  to  pursue  a  middle  line  between  honest  men  and  rogues. 

Assuredly  when  the  matters  in  controversy  appear  to  involve 
the  honour,  security,  or  other  serious  interests  of  the  country, 
we  are  bound  to  take  a  decided  stand  on  one  side  or  the  other, 
and  hesitation  or  neutrality  is  the  part  of  the  coward  and  the 

VOL.  I.— 65 


514  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

knave.  But  where  it  happens,  as  it  commonly  does,  that  there 
are  specious  grounds  of  right  advanced  by  both  parties,  nay, 
more,  that  there  is  reason  and  truth  with  both,  but  pushed  to 
extremes,  a  mind  of  unusual  candour  and  impartiality  may 
see  what  is  most  consonant  to  right  in  either,  or  what  is  most 
undeniably  wrong,  and  may  thus  be  disposed  to  agree  and  to 
disagree  in  part  with  both.  It  must  however  be  admitted  that 
such  neutral  territory  is  not  wholly  occupied  by  this  description 
of  persons,  but  partly  by  those  who  are  desirous  of  pleasing  all, 
or  are  fearful  of  offending  from  mere  timidity  or  good  nature; 
partly  again  by  those  who  pursue  the  same  object  with  a  view  of 
profiting  by  it,  like  the  bat  in  the  fable,  ready  to  declare  itself 
bird  or  beast,  according  to  the  seeming  chances  of  victory;  and 
lastly,  a  numerous  body  who  are  kept  from  going  on  one  side  or 
other  by  the  vis  inertias  of  indifference.  So  that  this  body,  to 
which  the  combatants  on  either  side  address  themselves,  may 
contain  some  of  the  wisest  and  purest,  as  well  as  the  most  worth- 
less of  the  community. 

He  regarded  the  finances  of  the  United  States  as  unintelligi- 
ble to  the  great  body  of  the  people,  and  as  purposely  made  so 
by  Hamilton.  He  even  supposes  that  Hamilton  himself  did  not 
understand  them,  and  was  unable  to  give  a  clear  view  of  the  ex- 
cess of  our  debts  beyond  our  credits,  or  whether  we  were 
diminishing  or  increasing  the  debt.  His  own  opinion  was  that 
the  annual  expenses  then  exceeded  the  revenue  about  a  million 
of  dollars;  and  he  declared  that  if  Mr.  Gallatin  would  present  the 
public  with  a  clear  and  simple  view  of  the  finances,  he  would 
merit  immortal  honour.  It  was  probably  not  unknown  to  him 
that  that  gentleman,  as  it  afterwards  appeared,  was  actually 
engaged  in  preparing  such  a  work,  which  made  its  appearance 
in  the  following  year. 

The  postscript  to  this  letter,  in  noticing  a  proposition  of  Mr. 
Madison's  respecting  post  roads,  first  presents  the  question  of  the 
power  of  Congress  to  provide  these  useful  facilities  of  communica- 
tion between  different  parts  of  the  union,  which  has  since  been 
so  much  discussed,  and  has  so  divided  the  politicians  of  the  coun- 
try. Mr.  Jefferson,  as  usual,  was  in  favour  of  that  construction 
which  most  restricts  the  power  of  the  federal  government,  and 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  515 

he  relics  more  on  the  pernicious  consequences  from  the  exercise 
of  the  power,  than  on  the  literal  import  of  the  constitution  it- 
self. He  views  it  as  "a  source  of  boundless  patronage  to  the 
executive,  jobbing  to  members  of  Congress  and  their  friends, 
and  a  bottomless  abyss  of  public  money.  You*  will  begin,"  he 
says,  "by  only  appropriating  the  surplus  of  the  post  office  reve- 
nues; but  the  other  revenues  will  soon  be  called  to  their  aid, 
and  it  will  be  a  source  of  eternal  scramble  among  the  members, 
who  can  get  the  most  money  wasted  in  their  state;  and  they 

will  always  get  most  who  are  meanest." He  objects  to  the 

want  of  local  knowledge  by  Congress,  and  also  to  the  constitu- 
tionality— "Does  the  power  to  establish  post  roads,"  he  asks,  "given 
you  by  the  constitution,  mean  that  you  shall  makei\\e  roads,  or 
only  select  from  those  already  made,  those  on  which  there  shall 
be  a  post?  If  the  term  be  equivocal,  (and  I  really  do  not  think 
it  so,)  which  is  the  safest  construction?  That  which  permits  a 
majority  of  Congress  to  go  to  cutting  down  mountains  and 
bridging  of  rivers,  or  the  other,  which  if  too  restricted,  may  be 
referred  to  the  states  for  amendment;  securing  still  due  mea- 
sure and  proportion  among  us,  and  providing  some  means  of  in- 
formation to  the  members  of  Congress,  tantamount  to  that  ocular 
inspection,  which  even  in  our  county  determinations,  the 
magistrate  finds  cannot  be  supplied  by  any  other  evidence?" — 
This  is  certainly  one  of  the  most  important  questions  which 
divide  those  who  severally  favour  a  liberal  and  a  strict  construc- 
tion of  the  constitution.  But  other  considerations  have  mingled 
with  this  of  federal  power,  and  have  given  many  supporters  to  the 
party  which  affirms  the  existence  of  the  power  to  make  roads. 
Besides  the  local  advantages  which,  operating  on  the  hopes  and 
interests  on  various  parts  of  the  country,  have  influenced  the 
opinions  of  the  people,  the  western  states  in  particular  maintain 
that  it  is  only  in  this  way  that  they  can  receive  any  adequate 
return  for  their  contributions  to  the  national  treasury;  that 
while  so  much  is  expended  to  give  facility  and  security  to  fo- 
reign commerce — as  by  discriminating  tonnage  duties;  bounties 
to  fishing  vessels;  monopoly  to  coasting  vessels;  light  houses; 
breakwaters,  and  the  establishment  of  a  navy  itself— something 


51 G  THE   LIFE   OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

should  also  be  expended  to  facilitate  the  only  commercial  inter- 
course which  the  interior  states  are  capable  of  carrying  on. 
Some  of  the  Atlantic  states,  too,  have  favoured  the  same  con- 
struction, because,  from  their  position  they  expected  to  gain 
from  the  national  treasury  more  than  they  contributed  to  it; 
and  they  might,  moreover,  in  this  way  have  the  benefit  of  expen- 
sive public  improvements  which  were  unattainable  in  any 
other.  Many  also,  who  regarded  the  permanency  of  the  union  as 
precarious  as  it  was  desirable,  looked  upon  these  national  roads 
as  links  of  connexion  between  the  west  and  the  east,  which 
would  thus  bind  the  remotest  extremes  of  the  union  together  by 
the  strong  ties  of  commercial  interest.  Every  one  saw  that 
these  means  of  intercommunication  would  greatly  add  to  the 
wealth  of  the  nation,  and  that  from  the  difficulty  of  getting  the 
separate  states  to  unite  in  any  plan,  they  would  be  impractica- 
ble, except  when  made  by  the  general  government.  There 
was  another  consideration,  which  though  adventitious,  had  pro- 
bably more  influence  of  late  years  than  any  other.  This  was 
the  protection  to  domestic  manufactures.  It  was  foreseen  that 
in  a  short  time  the  public  debt  would  be  extinguished,  after 
which  event,  at  least  ten  millions  of  the  existing  revenue  would 
be  released,  and  consequently  that  duties  to  that  amount  on 
foreign  fabrics  must  be  taken  off.  The  only  way  then  in  which 
the  protection  of  the  present  tariff  could  be  preserved  to  domes- 
tic manufactures  was  by  a  system  of  national  roads  and  canals, 
so  that  the  money  with  which  foreign  manufactures  was  taxed, 
to  favour  the  competition  of  our  own,  would  defray  the  expense 
of  these  national  works;  and  in  this  way  an  alliance  was  formed 
between  the  friends  of  manufactures  and  of  the  advocates  for 
the  power  of  making  roads  and  canals. 

The  great  Cumberland  road  was  afterwards  undertaken 
during  Mr.  Jefferson's  administration,  with  the  consent  of  the 
states  through  which  it  passed;  and  the  powers  which  he  then 
sanctioned  in  the  general  government,  must  be  regarded  as  in- 
dicating his  deliberate  opinion,  so  far  as  they  conflict  with  the 
views  expressed  to  Mr.  Madison  in  1790. 

In  speaking  of  the  British  treaty  on  the  24th  of  March  to  Mr. 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  517 

Monroe,  he  states  the  constitutional  doctrine  to  be  that  which 
was  afterwards  declared  by  a  majority  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives; and  declared  that  on  the  precedent  now  to  be  set 
will  depend  the  future  construction  of  our  constitution,  and 
whether  the  powers  of  legislation  shall  be  transferred  from  the 
president,  senate,  and  house  of  representatives,  to  the  president 
and  senate  and  Piamingo,  or  any  other  Indian,  Algerine,  or  other 
chief." 

In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Madison  a  few  days  afterwards,  he  speaks 
of  Mr.  Gallatin's  views  on  this  subject  as  able,  but  not  free  from 
difficulty,  though  less  so,  perhaps,  than  the  opposite  construction. 
"According  to  the  rule  established  by  usage  and  common  sense, 
of  construing  one  part  of  the  instrument  by  another,  the  objects 
on  which  the  president  and  senate  may  exclusively  act  by  treaty 
are  much  reduced,  but  the  field  on  which  they  may  act  with 
the  sanction  of  the  legislature,  is  large  enough;  and  I  see  no 
harm  in  rendering  their  sanction  necessary,  and  not  much  harm 
in  annihilating  the  whole  treaty  making  power,  except  as  to 
making  peace."  "If  the  power  was  possessed,"  he  remarks,  "he 
could  conceive  no  case  in  which  it  could  be  more  properly  used; 
and  the  people  were  looking  to  Congress  to  save  them  from  the 
effects  of  the  avarice  and  corruption  of  the  first  agent,  the  re- 
volutionary machinations  of  others,  and  the  incomprehensible 
acquiescence  of  the  only  honest  man  who  has  assented  to  it.  I 
wish  that  his  honesty  and  his  political  errors  may  not  furnish  a 
second  occasion  to  exclaim,  'curse  on  his  virtues,  they  have 
undone  his  country.'  " — 

He  fortifies  his  construction  of  the  constitution  by  referring  to 
an  answer  made  by  General  Washington  to  the  senate  in  1791, 
in  which  he  said  he  should  take  measures  for  the  ransom  of  our 
citizens  in  Algiers,  in  conformity  with  their  advice,  as  soon  as 
the  requisite  sum  should  be  appropriated  by  the  legislature. 

It  was  about  this  time,  when  Mr.  JefFerson  partook  of  the  dis- 
satisfaction which  the  British  treaty  generally  inspired,  and  of 
the  popular  suspicions  as  to  the  motives  of  those  who  favoured 
it,  that  he  wrote  a  letter  to  Mr.  Mazzei,  an  Italian  gentleman 
•who  had  lived  some  time  in  his  neighbourhood,  and  with  whom 
he  had  been  particularly  intimate.  He  represents  to  him  the 


518  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

falling  off  that  had  taken  place  in  the  attachment  of  some  of  the 
leading  politicians  to  liberty  and  republicanism,  which  he  at- 
tributes to  the  corrupting  influence  of  Great  Britain,  the  fund- 
ing system  and  the  bank.  The  political  portion  of  this  letter 
was  translated  into  Italian,  and  published  in  Florence  by  Mr. 
Mazzei,  was  then  translated  into  French,  and  published  at  Paris 
in  the  Moniteur,  and  having  been  retranslated  into  English  and 
republished  in  this  country  in  the  following  year,  it  became  the 
subject  of  severe  animadversion  against  Mr.  Jefferson  by  the 
federal  party.  The  offensive  passage  in  the  original  letter  was 
in  these  words: 

"The  aspect  of  our  politics  has  wonderfully  changed 

since  you  left  us  April  24, 1796.  In  place  of  that  noble  love  of 
liberty  and  republican  government  which  carried  us  triumphant- 
ly through  the  war,  an  Anglican  monarchical  and  aristocrati- 
cal  party  has  sprung  up,  whose  avowed  object  is  to  draw  over 
us  the  substance,  as  they  have  already  done  the  forms,  of  the 
British  government.  The  main  body  of  our  citizens,  however, 
remain  true  to  their  republican  principles;  the  whole  landed 
interest  is  republican,  and  so  is  a  great  mass  of  talents.  Against 
us  are  the  executive,  the  judiciary,  two  out  of  three  branches 
of  the  legislature,  all  the  officers  of  the  government,  all  who 
want  to  be  officers,  all  timid  men  who  prefer  the  calm  of  des- 
potism to  the  boisterous  sea  of  liberty;  British  merchants  and 
Americans  trading  on  British  capitals,  speculators  and  holders 
in  the  banks  and  public  funds,  a  contrivance  invented  for  the 
purposes  of  corruption,  and  for  assimilating  us  in  all  things  to 
the  rotten  as  well  as  the  sound  parts  of  the  British  model.  It 
would  give  you  a  fever  were  I  to  name  to  you  the  apostates 
who  have  gone  over  to  these  heresies,  men  who  were  Samsons 
in  the  field  and  Solomons  in  the  council,  but  who  have  had 
their  heads  shorn  by  the  harlot  England.  In  short,  we  are  like- 
ly to  preserve  the  liberty  we  have  obtained  only  by  unremitting 
labours  and  perils.  But  we  shall  preserve  it;  and  our  mass  of 
weight  and  wealth  on  the  good  side  is  so  great,  as  to  leave 
no  danger  that  force  will  ever  be  attempted  against  us.  We 
have  only  to  wake  and  snap  the  Lilliputian  cords  with  which 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  5 ID 

they  have  been  entangling  us  during  the  first  sleep  which  sue- 
ceeded  our  labours." 

The  enemies  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  with  a  view  of  profiting  by  the 
strong  hold  which  General  Washington  always  had  on  the  affec- 
tions of  the  people,  insisted  that  these,  his  accusations  of  a  desire 
in  some  to  introduce  a  monarchical  government,  and  of  apostacy 
from  their  former  principles,  meant  to  apply  to  that  eminent 
man,  and  that  considering  the  relations  in  which  Mr.  Jefferson 
professed  to  stand  towards  him,  the  calumny  was  as  base  as  it 
was  unfounded.  No  letter  which  Mr.  Jefferson  ever  wrote  ex- 
cited as  much  interest,  or  was  the  subject  of  as  much  comment 
and  censure  as  this. 

Mr.  Pickering  states,  on  the  authority  of  Dr.  Stuart,  that 
General  Washington  had,  when  he  became  a  private  citizen, 
"called  Mr.  Jefferson  to  account"  for  expressions  used  in  his  let- 
ter to  Mazzei;  and  adds,  "in  what  manner  he  humbled  himself 
and  appeased  the  just  resentment  of  Washington  will  never  be 
known,  as  sometime  after  his  death,  the  correspondence  was  not 
to  be  found,  and  a  diary  for  an  important  period  of  his  presidency 
was  also  missing." 

In  reply  to  this  offensive  imputation,  Mr.  Jefferson  affirms, 
that  "there  never  passed  a  word,  written  or  verbal,  directly  or 
indirectly,"  between  General  Washington  and  himself  on  the 
subject  of  that  letter;  he  is  at  some  pains  to  show  that  the  story  is 
altogether  unfounded;  and  he  exposes  the  awkward  attempt  to 
draw  support  to  it,  by  connecting  the  assumed  fact  of  the  lost 
correspondence  with  the  lost  diary,  though  the  correspondence, 
if  it  took  place  at  all,  must  have  been  after  April,  1797,  when 
the  letter  to  Mazzei  was  published  in  America,  and  consequent- 
ly, after  General  Washington  had  ceased  to  be  president;  while 
the  diary,  said  to  be  lost,  and  supposed  to  mention  the  correspon- 
dence, was  written  during  the  presidency. 

"This  letter  to  Mazzei,  he  says,  has  been  a  precious  theme  of 
crimination  for  federal  malice.  It  was  a  long  letter  of  business, 
in  which  was  inserted  a  single  paragraph  only  of  political  in- 
formation. In  this  information  there  was  not  one  word  which 
would  not  then  have  been,  or  would  not  now  be  approved  by 


520  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

every  republican  in  the  United  States,  looking  back  to  those 
times,  as  you  will  see  by  a  faithful  copy  now  inclosed  of  the 
whole  of  what  that  letter  said  on  the  subject  of  the  United 
States,  or  of  its  government."  He  says  that  the  letter  contains 
not  one  word  respecting  France,  or  any  of  the  proceedings  or 
relations  between  this  country  and  that;  but  that  the  paragraph 
which  makes  him  charge  his  own  country  with  ingratitude 
and  iniustice  towards  France,  he  supposes  was  interpolated  by 
the  party  then  in  power,  who  caught  at  every  thing  to  buoy 
them  up.  Yet  this  interpolation  is  quoted  by  Mr.  Pickering  as 
the  remark  of  Mr.  Jefferson.  He  adverts  also  to  the  substitu- 
tion of  form,  in  the  translation,  for  "forms."*  He  denies  that  he 
meant  his  remarks  against  an  Anglican  monarchical  and  aristo- 
cratic partv  to  apply  to  General  Washington;  insists  that  they  do 
not  necessarily  applv  to  him,  and  that  General  Washington  was 
well  aware  that  these  censures  were  not  intended  for  him.  He 
thus  concludes  his  vindication:  "The  truth  is,  that  the  federal- 
ists, pretending  to  be  the  exclusive  friends  of  General  Washing- 
ton, have  ever  done  what  they  could  to  sink  his  character,  by 
hanging  theirs  on  it,  and  by  representing  as  the  enemy  of  re- 
publicans him,  who,  of  all  men,  is  best  entitled  to  the  appella- 
tion of  the  father  of  that  republic  which  they  were  endeavour- 
ing to  subvert,  and  the  republicans  to  maintain.  They  cannot 
deny,  because  the  elections  proclaimed  the  truth,  that  the  great 
body  of  the  nation  approved  the  republican  measures.  General 
Washington  was  himself  sincerely  a  friend  to  the  republican 
principles  of  our  constitution.  His  faith,  perhaps,  in  its  dura- 
tion, might  not  have  been  as  confident  as  mine;  but  he  repeat- 

*  I  have  seen  and  carefully  examined  the  press  copy  of  the  original. 
The  word  is  plainly  "forms,"  and  never  could  have  been  different. 
These  press  copies,  it  may  be  observed  in  answer  to  the  cavils  of  the 
malevolent  and  suspicious,  bear  upon  their  face  proofs  of  their  authen- 
ticity. Those  of  the  same  date  have  the  same  degree  of  that  peculiar 
tinge  or  discoloration  which  time  gives  to  paper;  and,  as  they  are  to  be 
read  on  the  wrong  side,  and  are  therefore  printed  on  very  thin, 
semi-transparent  paper,  erasure  is  impracticable;  nor  can  any  addition 
be  made  without  plainly  manifesting  itself,  as  may  be  seen  whenever 
any  casual  omission  of  a  letter  or  word  has  been  supplied,  or  lines,  too 
faintly  impressed,  have  been  rendered  more  legible. 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  521 

edly  declared  to  me,  that  he  was  determined  it  should  have  a 
fair  chance  for  success,  and  that  he  would  lose  the  last  drop  of 
his  blood  in  its  support,  against  any  attempt  that  might  be  made 
to  change  it  from  its  republican  form.  He  made  these  decla- 
rations the  oftener  because  he  knew  my  suspicions  that  Hamil- 
ton had  other  views,  and  he  wished  to  quiet  my  jealousies  on 
this  subject.  For  Hamilton  frankly  avowed,  that  he  considered 
the  British  constitution,  with  all  the  corruptions  of  its  adminis- 
tration, as  the  most  perfect  model  of  government  which  had 
ever  been  devised  by  the  wit  of  man;  professing,  however,  at 
the  same  time,  that  the  spirit  of  this  country  was  so  fundamen- 
tally republican,  that  it  would  be  visionary  to  think  of  intro- 
ducing monarchy  here,  and  that,  therefore,  it  was  the  duty  of 
its  administrators  to  conduct  it  on  the  principles  their  consti- 
tuents had  elected. 

"General  Washington,  after  the  retirement  of  his  first  cabi- 
net, and  the  composition  of  his  second,  entirely  federal,  and  at 
the  head  of  which  was  Mr.  Pickering  himself,  had  no  opportu- 
nity of  hearing  both  sides  of  any  question.  His  measures,  con- 
sequently, took  more  the  hue  of  the  party  in  whose  hands  he 
was.  Their  measures  were  certainly  not  approved  by  the  re- 
publicans; yet  were  they  not  imputed  to  him,  but  to  the  coun- 
sellors around  him;  and  his  prudence  so  far  restrained  their  im- 
passioned course  and  bias,  that  no  act  of  strong  mark,  during  the 
remainder  of  his  administration,  excited  much  dissatisfaction. 
He  lived  too  short  a  time  after,  and  too  much  withdrawn  from 
information,  to  correct  the  views  into  which  he  had  been  delud- 
ed; and  the  continued  assiduities  of  the  party  drew  him  into  the 
vortex  of  their  intemperate  career;  separated  him  still  further 
from  his  real  friends;  and  excited  him  to  actions  and  expressions 
of  dissatisfaction,  which  grieved  them,  but  could  not  loosen  their 
affections  from  him.  They  would  not  suffer  the  temporary  aber- 
ration to  weigh  against  the  innumerable  merits  of  his  life;  and, 
although  they  tumbled  his  seducers  from  their  places,  they  pre- 
served his  memory  embalmed  in  their  hearts,  with  undiminished 
love  and  devotion;  and  there  it  will  for  ever  remain  embalmed, 
in  entire  oblivion  of  every  temporary  thing  which  might  cloud 

VOL.  I.— 66 


522  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

the  glories  of  his  splendid  life.  It  is  vain  then,  for  Mr.  Picker- 
ing and  his  friends  to  endeavour  to  falsify  his  character,  by  re- 
presenting him  as  an  enemy  to  republicans  and  republican  prin- 
ciples, and  as  exclusively  the  friend  of  those  who  were  so;  and 
had  he  lived  longer,  he  would  have  returned  to  his  ancient  and 
unbiassed  opinions,  would  have  replaced  his  confidence  in  those 
whom  the  people  approved  and  supported,  and  would  have  seen 
that  they  were  only  restoring  and  acting  on  the  principles  of  his 
own  first  administration." 

As  this  letter  to  Mazzei  has  drawn  so  much  obloquy  on  Mr. 
Jefferson,  we  may  be  excused  for  giving  a  closer  examination  to 
the  charges  and  to  his  defence.  The  grounds  of  crimination  are — 
1.  That  he  has  imputed  to  General  Washington  an  undue  attach- 
ment to  England,  and  a  secret  preference  for  monarchical  over 
republican  government;  that  he  was  plainly  designated  in  that 
passage  of  the  letter  which  says,  "against  us  are  the  executive, 
and  two  out  of  three  branches  of  the  legislature;"  and  was 
meant  to  be  comprehended  among  "the  apostates  who  though 
Samsons  in  the  field,  and  Solomons  in  the  council,  have  had 
their  heads  shorn  by  the  harlot  England."  2.  That  after  the 
publication  of  the  letter,  on  an  explanation  being  demanded  by 
General  Washington,  he  had  made  the  most  submissive  apology, 
denying  his  allusion  to  General  Washington,  as  far  as  he  could, 
and  asking  forgiveness  where  he  could  not.  3.  That  to  conceal 
this  humiliation  from  the  world,  the  person  who  had  charge  of 
General  Washington's  papers,  after  his  death,  had,  either  at  his 
own  instance,  for  the  purpose  of  recommending  himself  to  Mr. 
Jefferson,  who  then  dispensed  the  emoluments  of  office,  or  on  the 
application  of  Mr.  Jefferson  himself,  abstracted  the  correspon- 
dence between  them,  as  well  as  a  part  of  the  General's  diary, 
while  he  was  president,  which  also  concerned  Mr.  Jefferson,  for 
which  service  the  same  individual  was  rewarded  by  an  office  of 
trust  and  profit.  4.  That,  in  his  letter  to  Mr.  Van  Buren,  Mr. 
Jefferson,  in  the  teeth  of  the  clearest  evidence,  uncandidly  at- 
tempts to  deny  that  he  meant  to  comprehend  General  Washing- 
ton, thus  having  the  meanness  to  disavow  the  slanders  he  had 
had  the  baseness  to  fabricate.  5.  And  lastly,  that  at  the  very 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  523 

moment  of  this  denial  he  virtually  renews  and  repeats  the  same 
calumnies,in  the  very  same  letter,  in  declaring  that,  he  had  writ- 
ten nothing  to  Mazzei  which  was  not  then,  and  would  not  now 
be  approved  by  the  republican  party  throughout  the  United 
States. 

To  the  first  of  these  charges,  Mr.  Jefferson  gives  an  express 
denial;  and  while  he  has  never  retracted  one  word  as  to  the 
leading  men  of  the  federal  party,  he  has  uniformily  maintained 
that  he  did  not  mean  to  class  General  Washington  with  them, 
either  as  to  their  principles  or  purposes.  Now  upon  this  sub- 
ject we  have  abundant  evidence  to  satisfy  a  candid  enquirer. 
Not  only  in  his  diary  does  he  repeatedly  express  his  conviction 
that  General  Washington  was  a  republican  in  his  attachments, 
though  he  had  not  the  same  entire  confidence  in  the  fitness  of 
the  people  for  self-government  as  Mr.  Jefferson,but  also  in  several 
of  his  letters  to  individuals  of  the  same  party  as  himself;  and  in 
the  long  letter  he  wrote  to  General  Washington  to  dissuade  him 
from  retiring  at  the  end  of  the  first  term,  he  not  only  would  not 
have  urged  him  to  continue,  if  he  had  believed  that  his  princi- 
ples were  opposed  to  those  to  which  he  showed  through  life 
such  a  rooted  attachment,  and  on  which  his  hopes  of  favour 
with  his  countrymen  rested,  but  he  would  never  have  ventured 
to  censure  so  roundly  as  he  did  in  that  letter  the  principles 
which  he  believed  were  those  of  General  Washington.  This 
letter  then  is  of  itself  utterly  inconsistent  with  the  fact  that  he 
intended  to  comprehend  in  his  letter  to  Mazzei  him,  whom  he 
had  at  all  other  times  excepted.  They  were  plainly  meant  for 
Hamilton,  Adams,  Jay,  the  Pinckneys,  and  some  others  who 
had  been  distinguished  in  the  revolution  as  soldiers  or  statesmen, 
and  who  then  guided  the  executive  councils,  but  who,  by  their 
Anglican  attachments  and  antigallican  prejudices,  were  endeav- 
ouring as  much  as  they  could  to  assimilate  our  government  to 
that  of  Great  Britain.  This  opinion,  whether  well  founded  or 
not,  Mr.  Jefferson,  in  common  with  a  large  proportion  of  his 
party,  fully  entertained.  There  is  abundant  evidence  to  show 
that,  as  to  some  of  the  federal  party,  they  were  not  mistaken;  and 
if  in  the  course  of  time,  the  American  government  were  to  dis- 


524  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

appoint  the  hopes  of  its  friends  and  admirers,  and  prove  a 
failure,  many  of  that  party  would  have  claims  to  the  character 
of  foresight,  which  even  their  enemies  could  not  resist,  and  which 
some  of  their  admirers  already  assert  for  them  by  anticipation. 
2.  and  3.  As  to  the  fact  that  Mr.  Jefferson  made  a  submissive 
apology,  in  consequence  of  a  demand  of  explanation  by  General 
Washington,  the  supposition  must  be  considered  as  nearly  gra- 
tuitous. It  is  positively  denied  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  there 
is  no  evidence  which  ought  to  outweigh  his  denial.  Mr.  Picker- 
ing, who  acknowledged  his  dislike  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  whose 
susceptibility  of  hatred  and  resentment  was  the  strongest  feature 
in  his  character,  states  it  on  the  authority  of  Dr.  Stuart,  and 
he  undertakes  to  account  for  the  absence  of  the  best  testimony 
— the  letter  itself — by  supposing  that  it  had  been  clandestinely 
withdrawn  by  him  who  had  the  custody  of  those  papers.  There 
is,  however,  no  direct  evidence  that  such  a  letter  ever  existed. 
Dr.  Stuart  does  not  say  that  he  ever  saw  it;  and  had  he  seen 
it,  we  are  authorized  to  infer,  from  the  temper  manifested  to- 
wards Mr.  Jefferson,  that  he  would  have  been  as  prompt  to  declare 
it  as  Mr.  Pickering  would  have  been  to  repeat  the  declaration. 
The  supposition  seems  to  be  either  a  mere  inference  from 
doubtful  facts,  or  to  rest  on  vague,  unsupported,  and  improbable 
rumour.  The  inference  rests  on  the  fact,  that  an  office  was 
bestowed  by  Mr.  Jefferson  on  the  individual  who  had  the  tem- 
porary charge  of  General  Washington's  papers.  But  surely, 
when  so  many  motives  may  have  induced  Mr.  Jefferson  to  give 
this  office,  it  is  unreasonable  to  assume  that  it  was  the  price  of 
treachery.  As  he  must  give  the  office  to  some  one,  we  might 
require  nothing  more  than  the  fact  that  it  was  asked  for.  Be- 
sides, there  is  a  certain  degree  of  liberality  and  courtesy  to  be 
expected  from  every  president  towards  his  predecessors,  which 
has  manifested  itself  on  many  occasions,  and  which  none  but  coarse 
minds  will  condemn.  Mr.  Jefferson  acknowledges  to  this  senti- 
ment in  the  case  of  Mr.  Adams,  and  he  would  have  felt  additional 
motives  for  granting  a  favour  to  one  who  had  been  a  member  of 
the  family  of  General  Washington.  There  was  also  a  rumour  on 
this  subject  that  Rawlins,  whom  General  Washington  employed 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  525 

about  this  time  as  an  amanuensis,  told  a  merchant  in  Alexandria, 
that  he  copied  a  letter  from  the  General  to  Mr.  Jefferson, 
relative  to  the  Mazzei  letter,  which  was  so  very  severe,  "it 
made  his  hair  stand  on  end."  I  have  inquired  into  this  story, 
and  it  seems  as  unsupported  as  the  rest.  Rawlins  is  dead: 
The  merchant  is  dead;  and  no  one  is  alive  who  pretends  to  have 
heard  llawlins  make  the  assertion.  To  establish  then  the  fact 
that  General  Washington  wrote  an  angry  letter  to  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son, we  must  assume  that  the  person  who  had  the  story  from 
the  Alexandria  merchant,  neither  misrepresented  nor  misunder- 
stood him — that  he  again  neither  misrepresented  nor  misunder- 
stood Rawlins — and  lastly,  that  Rawlins  neither  misrepresented 
nor  misunderstood  General  Washington,  either  as  to  the  charac- 
ter of  the  letter  or  the  person  to  whom  it  was  addressed.  If 
testimony  like  this,  adduced  by  a  prejudiced  partizan  against 
a  political  opponent,  is  to  be  received,  what  character  would 
be  safe?  But  it  is  not  merelv  insufficient,  it  is  disproved  by 
intrinsic  circumstances.  It  must  be  remembered  that  when 
Mr.  Jefferson  is  said  to  have  written  the  letter  of  apology,  he 
must  have  had  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  letter  he  wrote 
would  one  day  see  the  light.  He  knew  the  regular  business- 
like habits  of  General  Washington;  and  consequently,  the  letter 
had  the  same  probability  of  preservation  as  if  it  had  been  filed 
away  among  the  archives  of  state.  He  would  then  have  said 
nothing  which  would  have  disgraced  or  discredited  him  with 
the  nation,  but  have  vindicated  himself  on  similar  grounds  to 
those  taken  in  his  letter  to  Mr.  Van  Buren;  in  which  case,  he 
had  no  motive  to  suppress  the  correspondence. 

4.  That  he  attempted  to  show  in  his  letter  to  Mr.  Van  Buren, 
that  the  term  did  not  comprehend  General  Washington,  because 
by  the  two  branches  of  the  legislature,  he  meant  the  two  Houses  of 
Congress;  whereas,  it  was  notorious,  as  he  himself  admitted,  that 
a  majority  of  the  House  of  Representatives  were  at  that  time 
members  of  the  republican  or  opposition  party.  This  must  be  con- 
ceded; but  it  is  only  an  evidence  of  his  lapse  of  memory,  in  ground- 
ing an  argument  on  a  subordinate  fact,in  support  of  what  he  knew 
to  be  the  truth.  He  cannot  be  presumed  to  have  knowingly 


526  THE   LIFE   OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

misstated  a  fact,  which  a  bare  reference  to  the  Journals  of  the 
House,  or  the  history  of  the  times  would  have  satisfactorily  con- 
tradicted. The  fact  was,  that  not  only  was  the  weight  of  the 
senate,  but  also  of  the  executive  thrown  into  the  scale  of  the 
federal  party,  the  leaders  of  which  were  English  in  their  predi- 
lections, and  antigallican  in  their  antipathies;  and  these  senti- 
ments being  contrary  to  those  of  the  republicans,  they  were 
consequently  .condemned;  and  Mr.  Jefferson  made  a  distinction 
between  the  president  and  his  advisers,  which  many  of  his  party 
refused  to  make.  Of  all  the  imputations  to  which  this  letter 
has  given  rise,  this  unimportant  mistake  is  the  only  one  which 
is  well  founded;  and  that  is  evidence  of  nothing  but  a  failure  of 
memory,  which  induces  him  to  use  an  untenable  argument  to 
support  what  he  knew  to  be  an  undeniable  truth,  and  which  it 
would  be  miraculous  if  an  octogenarian  did  not  sometimes  ex- 
hibit* 

He  is  however  considered  as  repeating  the  very  same  calumny, 
in  the  letter  to  Mr.  Van  Buren,  when  he  says,  that  what  he  had 
uttered  in  his  letter  to  Mazzei  was  approved  by  the  republican 
party  throughout  the  United  States;  as  in  that  letter  he  had 
expressly  disclaimed  all  intention  of  comprehending  General 
Washington;  his  remarks  apply  solely  to  the  federal  party,  and 
he  certainly  was  well  warranted  in  making  it,  when  he  receiv- 
ed so  large  a  majority  of  the  suffrages  of  the  nation  for  the 
office  of  president,  at  his  second  election  after  that  letter  was 
published.  It  is  true  that  these  sweeping  censures  of  the  fede- 

*  His  letter  to  Mr.  Giles  in  December,  1825,  respecting  Mr.  J.  Q.. 
Adams's  information  concerning  the  federal  party  in  Massachusetts,  is  a 
striking  proof  of  this.  It  would  be  easy  to  multiply  examples  of  this 
failure  of  memory  in  the  last  years  of  his  life;  but  the  following  will  suf- 
fice. In  his  character  of  rector  of  the  university,  he  made  out  a  sort  of 
commission,  or  certificate  of  appointment  for  the  professors.  When  he 
gave  me  mine.  I  found  on  inspection  that  he  had  inserted  the  name  of  my 
friend  Henry  St.  George  Tucker,  the  president  of  the  court  of  appeals. 
On  representing  it  to  him  he  took  it  with  him  fo  alter  it,  he  brought  it  to 
me  with  the  name  altered  in  one  part,  but  left  unchanged  in  another.  I 
have  before  me  several  short  notes  written  to  his  physician,  Dr.  Dungli- 
son  of  the  university,  in  which  the  name  of  that  gentleman  is  spelt  four 
different  ways. 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  527 

ralists  excited  lively  resentment  at  the  time:  it  is  also  true  that 
the  party  affected  to  regard  them  as  equally  meant  for  General 
Washington  as  themselves,  and  they  adroitly  appealed  to  the 
fervid  attachment  which  the  great  mass  of  all  parties  felt  for 
that  illustrious  man;  and  profited  by  the  advantage  which  his 
death  gave  them,  when  the  murmurs  of  discontent  were  hush- 
ed in  the  national  tribute  of  regret  and  veneration  for  his  memo- 
ry, and  all  his  supposed  errors  were  forgotten.  Yet  with  all 
their  efforts,  thus  favoured  by  circumstances,  they  were  unable 
to  affect  Mr.  Jefferson's  popularity;  and,  so  far  as  the  sentiments 
of  the  people  are  to  be  inferred  from  their  acts,  they  gave  their 
sanction  to  these  views.  They  did  not  indeed  consider  them  as 
applicable  to  General  Washington,  and  they  did  not  believe 
that  Mr.  Jefferson  meant  so  to  apply  them.  He  and  they 
had  entire  confidence  in  Washington's  republicanism  and  pa- 
triotism, but  yet  believed  that  he  might  sometimes  be  mistaken. 
Nor  in  supposing  that  those  around  him  had  an  influence  on  his 
opinions  both  of  men  and  measures,  can  they  be  fairly  regarded 
as  impeaching  either  his  firmness  or  discernment,  for  where  is 
the  man  who  would  not  be  so  influenced?  Such  an  influence 
was  the  more  readily  credited,  when  it  was  recollected  that  he 
was  surrounded  by  individuals  who  were  more  familiar  with 
subjects  of  legislation,  diplomacy,  and  constitutional  law  than 
himself;  and  that,  with  his  characteristic  modesty  and  caution, 
no  one  was  more  sensible  of  this  difference  than  General  Wash- 
ington himself. 

The  journals  of  the  day  show  that  Mr.  Jefferson  did  not  suf- 
fer with  his  own  party  for  the  letter  to  Mazzei,  and  the  declin- 
ing opposition  to  him,  while  president,  shows  that  he  did  not 
suffer  with  the  nation.  It  is  then  truly  remarked  by  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son, that  the  federal  party  act  the  part  of  friends  to  themselves 
rather  than  of  Washington,  in  seeking  to  make  him  the  sharer 
of  the  bitter  obloquy  they  provoked,  of  the  popular  disfavour 
they  underwent,  and  of  the  sentence  of  condemnation  delibe- 
rately passed  on  their  policy,  by  the  most  solemn  acts  of  the  na- 
tion; and  they  alone  do  justice  to  his  pure,  firm,  well-balanced 
mind,  who,  while  they  are  obliged  to  admit  that,  in  some  of  his 


528  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

views  and  measures,  he  was  not  one  of  themselves,  maintain 
also  that  he  cannot  be  claimed  by  their  opponents;  and  though 
he  occasionally  acted  with  either  party — most  often  with  the 
federalists — he  approved  or  condemned  the  acts  and  opinions  of 
either,  with  an  impartiality  which  entitled  him  to  the  praise 
that  no  other  of  his  contemporaries  could  boast — of  being  a 
man  of  no  party. 

His  dissatisfaction  with  the  political  aspect  of  affairs  was  fur- 
ther manifested  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Monroe  of  the  12th  of  June, 
immediately  after  the  rising  of  Congress.  "You  will  have  seen," 
he  says,  "by  the  proceedings  of  Congress,  the  truth  of  what  I 
always  observed  to  you,  that  one  man  outweighs  them  all,  in  in- 
fluence over  the  people,  who  have  supported  his  judgment 
against  their  own,  and  that  of  their  representatives.  Repub- 
licanism must  lie  on  its  oars;  resign  the  vessel  to  its  pilot;  and 
themselves  to  the  course  he  thinks  best  for  them."  He  speaks 
of  the  influence  of  the  bank  and  of  the  deprivation  of  money  by 
its  issues.  He  says,  the  paper  in  circulation  in  and  around 
Philadelphia  amounts  to  twenty  millions  of  dollars,  and  that  in 
the  whole  union,  to  one  hundred  millions;  but  he  adds  that  the 
last  estimate  is  too  high.  Indeed  the  paper  in  circulation,  at 
this  time,  when  the  population  is  about  three  times  what  it 
was  then,  and  the  increase  of  wealth  yet  greater,  does  not  much 
exceed  one  hundred  millions,  and  probably  at  the  time  spoken 
of  was  less  than  thirty  millions.  At  that  period  the  affairs  of 
banks  were  studiously  concealed  from  the  public;  and  one  of  the 
most  important  ameliorations,  that  have  since  taken  place  in  re- 
gard to  these  institutions,is,that  their  actual  condition  isnow  made 
known  to  the  world,  by  which  not  only  their  imprudence  is 
checked,  but  false  impressions  concerning  them  are  prevented. 
The  extravagant  estimate  mentioned  by  Mr.  Jefferson  was  made 
from  some  mistaken  and  imaginary  proportion  between  their 
capital  and  their  supposed  issues.  He  considers  that  the  conse- 
quence of  such  an  increase  of  the  circulating  medium  has  been 
a  depreciation  of  50  per  cent.,  which  he  endeavours  to  prove 
by  a  reference  to  the  prices  of  commodities.  But  as  all  the 
banks  in  the  country  then  redeemed  their  notes  in  specie,  it  is 


THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  529 

clear  that  such  a  rise  could  have  taken  place  in  the  money 
price  of  no  article  of  merchandise;  and  if  it  existed  at  all,  it 
must  have  been  confined  to  town  lots  and  lands  near  the  towns, 
the  price  of  which  often  depends  upon  fancy  and  whim,  and 
upon  speculative  notions  of  future  profit,  in  which  hope  has  its 
wonted  influence  in  biassing  the  judgment.  The  prices  of  to- 
bacco and  wheat  must  always  have  been  regulated  here  by  the 
prices  abroad,  whatever  superabundance  of  money  we  may  have 
had;  and  the  depreciation  of  paper  can  never  be  greater  when 
compared  with  other  articles,  than  it  is  with  gold  and  silver. 
Indeed,  Mr.  Jefferson  admits  that  the  lands  in  his  neighbour- 
hood had  not  risen. 

There  having  recently  appeared  in  a  leading  opposition  pa- 
per, the  Aurora,  an  anonymous  attack  on  the  administration,  in 
which  were  first  published  the  queries  which  the  president  had 
propounded  to  his  cabinet  as  to  the  course  to  be  pursued  on  the 
arrival  of  Mr.  Genet,  Mr.  Jefferson,  knowing  that  a  copy  had 
been  in  his  possession,  and  had  been  communicated  only  to  the 
members  of  the  cabinet,  was  induced  to  write  immediately  to 
General  Washington,  for  the  purpose  of  preventing  or  averting 
any  suspicion  that  the  publication  was  made  by  his  agency.  He 
declares  that  the  paper  had  never  been  out  of  his  possession, 
and  that  its  contents  had  never  been  communicated  to  any  one, 
except  perhaps  to  Mr.  Madison,  who  had  his  entire  confidence. 
He  at  the  same  time  adverts  to  the  efforts  of  mischief-making 
individuals  to  produce  a  schism  between  them,  and  particularly 
alludes  to  one  person,  whom  he  charges  with  the  most  unfair 
and  culpable  practices  to  obtain  materials  for  his  unworthy 
purposes.  He  at  the  same  time  asserts,  in  a  tone  of  manly  inde- 
pendence, his  right  and  his  practice  to  speak  unreservedly  of 
political  affairs.  He  here  takes  occasion  to  repeat  a  remark 
formerly  made,  that  from  an  early  period  of  life  he  had  resolved 
never  to  write  for  the  newspapers,  and  that  he  had  rigidly  ad- 
hered to  his  determination. 

He  also  applied  for  a  copy  of  the  written  reasons  he  had  given, 
as  a  member  of  the  cabinet,  in  the  case  of  the  Little  Sarah;  re- 
marking, that  although  he  did  not  know  that  the  paper  would 

VOL.  I.— 67 


530  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

ever  be  of  the  least  importance  to  him,  "yet  one  loves  to  pos- 
sess arms,  though  he  hopes  never  to  have  occasion  for  them." 

General  Washington,  in  his  answer,  promptly  exculpated  Mr. 
Jefferson  from  the  charge  of  divulging  these  queries,  and  says 
that  he  knows  by  whom  they  were  communicated,  and  for  what 
purpose.  He  admits  that  he  had  learnt  that  Mr.  Jefferson  and 
his  friends  spoke  disrespectfully  of  him,  but  that  he  had  always 
replied  to  such  communications,  that  he  had  no  reason  to  ques- 
tion Mr.  Jefferson's  sincerity.  He  disclaims  being  under  the 
undue  influence  of  any  one;  says  that  he  did  not  believe  in  the  in- 
fallibility of  the  politics  or  measures  of  any  man  living;  that  he 
was  no  party  man  himself;  and  if  parties  did  exist,  his  first  wish 
was  to  reconcile  them."  He  repels  the  charges  of  undue  pre- 
judice against  France,  and  partiality  for  England,  with  great 
warmth. 

Mr.  Jefferson  wrote  to  Mr.  Monroe  in  July,  that  the  success 
of  the  Anglican  party  in  getting  the  British  treaty  through 
"was  a  dear  bought  victory;"  and  he  is  evidently  very  sanguine 
of  a  favourable  change,  whether  General  Washington's  succes- 
sor should  be  "a  monocrat  or  republican."  He  mentions  the 
court  paid  to  Patrick  Henry  by  the  federalists,  and  the  offers 
made  to  him;  and  says  that  "Mr.  Jay  and  his  advocate  Camil- 
lus,  (Hamilton,)  are  completely  treaty  foundered." 

By  this  time  Mr.  Jefferson  was  the  avowed  candidate  of  the 
republican  party,  in  case  General  Washington  resigned;  but  his 
pretensions  were  not  so  warmly  or  so  openly  pressed  as  they 
•would  have  been,  if  the  retirement  of  the  president  had  been 
formally  announced.  The  parties  showed  no  forbearance  to- 
wards each  other;  but  their  respective  views  in  the  choice  of  a 
successor  to  General  Washington  had  not  yet  constituted  a  part 
of  their  public  discussions. 

In  the  month  of  September,  however,  General  Washington, 
by  a  farewell  address*  to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  de- 


*  Mr.  Jefferson  has  in  a  letter  to  Judge  Johnson  given  an  account  of 
the  divided  authorship  of  this  address  which  some  of  his  political  oppo- 
nents have  attempted  to  discredit.  The  time  will  come  when  his  account 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  531 

dared  his  fixed  determination  not  to  be  again  a  candidate  for 
their  suffrages,  but  to  retire  to  private  life  after  the  expiration 
of  his  constitutional  term,  on  the  3d  of  March,  1797.  And  all 
motive  for  reserve  having  now  ceased,  whether  from  caution  or 
delicacy,  the  politicians  on  both  sides  prepared  for  the  struggle, 
and  put  into  operation  those  means  of  attack  and  defence  which 
they  had  long  been  previously  preparing.  The  supporters  of 
the  administration  had  generally  fixed  on  the  vice-president, 
Mr.  Adams,  as  their  candidate,  while  its  opponents,  with  yet 
greater  unanimity  and  cordiality,  selected  Mr.  Jefferson. 

Mr.  Adams  was  recommended  to  the  federal  party  by  his  ser- 
vices in  the  revolution,  by  his  being  likely  to  unite  the  votes  of 
New  England,  by  his  favour  with  the  English  party  from  his 
speculative  views  concerning  the  British  constitution,  and  by 
the  office  he  had  already  held  for  eight  years,  which  seemed  to 
give  him  the  claim  of  seniority  over  his  associates.  Yet  it 
was  not  without  some  mistrust  and  hesitation  that  he  was  ac- 
cepted by  some;  for  he  was  known  to  be  obstinately  self-willed 
in  adhering  to  his  opinions,  and  if  he  was  honest  and  indepen- 
dent in  forming  them,  he  waslikewise  sometimes  eccentric;  he  was 
also  supposed  to  attach  an  undue  importance  to  the  ceremonials 
of  rank,  and  to  arrogate  to  himself  a  degree  of  personal  defer- 
ence, which  qualities  were  unfavourable  to  that  real  dignity  and 
weight  of  character  which  are  at  all  times  so  desirable  in  a 
chief  magistrate;  but  especially  when  the  country  was  divided 
into  two  jealous  and  hostile  parties.  Thus  his  good  qualities, 
by  their  excess,  as  well  as  his  weaknesses,  formed  grounds  of 
objection  to  him;  but,  either  on  account  of  unpopularity  from 
the  British  treaty,  or  from  having  a  less  favourable  geographi- 
cal position,  no  other  competitor  was  deemed  equally  strong. 

The  votes  therefore  of  the  two  parties  were  generally  given  to 
Mr.  Adams  and  Mr.  Jefferson  respectively;  but  parties  not  being 
as  well  disciplined  then  as  at  the  present  day,  the  votes  of  some  of 

will  be  supported  by  the  most  undeniable  evidence,  by  which  it  will  ap- 
pear that  the  father  of  his  country,  in  giving  his  last  advice  to  his  fellow 
citizens,  with  equal  modesty  and  good  sense  did  not  disdain  to  ask  and 
receive  assistance  from  those  whom  he  believed  best  qualified  to  give  it. 


532  THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

the  states,  where  each  elector  was  chosen  in  a  separate  district, 
were  divided  between  the  two  candidates.  Thus  both  in  Vir- 
ginia and  North  Carolina,  Mr.  Adams  received  one  vote,  though 
the  other  votes  were  given  for  Mr.  Jefferson;  and  even  in  Penn- 
sylvania, where  the  mode  of  election,  by  general  ticket,  was 
likely  to  result  in  an  undivided  vote  of  the  state,  Mr.  Adams 
also  received  one  vote  by  the  extraordinary  popularity  of  one 
of  the  electors  of  his  party.  The  result  of  which  favourable 
circumstances  was,  that  he  received  71  votes,  being  one  more 
than  a  majority,  and  Mr.  Jefferson  but  68;  whereas,  if  these 
votes  representing  minorities  of  those  respective  states  had  been 
transferred  to  him,  their  respective  votes  would  have  been  ex- 
actly reversed.  Though  Mr.  Jefferson's  vote  was  not  sufficient 
to  elect  him  to  the  office  of  president  it  secured  him  that  of 
vice-president,  as  Mr.  Pinckney  of  South  Carolina,  who  had 
been  the  individual  selected  by  the  federalists  for  that  office, 
received  but  59  votes.* 

While  the  election  was  pending,  and  before  its  results  could 
be  certainly  known,  Mr.  Jefferson  wrote  to  Mr.  Madison  on  the 
17th  of  December,  and  after  declaring  his  anxious  hope  that  he 
might  come  out  second  or  third,  he  adverts  to  the  possibility  of 
an  equality  of  electoral  votes  between  him  and  Mr.  Adams,  and 
that  the  representatives  might  be  also  divided.  In  this  case,  he 
says,  he  was  impelled  both  by  duty  and  inclination  to  relieve 
the  embarrassment;  and  he  authorized  Mr.  Madison,  in  that 
event,  to  urge  on  his  behalf  that  Mr.  Adams  should  be  preferred, 
on  the  ground  of  seniority,  both  as  to  years  and  public  services; 
that  when  there  were  so  many  motives  to  induce  some  of  the 
members  to  change  their  votes,  the  addition  of  his  wish  might  have 
some  effect.  In  speaking  of  our  foreign  affairs,  he  remarks,  "that 
they  never  wore  so  gloomy  an  aspect  since  the  year  1783.  Let 
those  come  to  the  helm  who  think  they  can  steer  clear  of  the 
difficulties.  I  have  no  confidence  in  myself  for  the  undertaking." 

*  Mr.  Jefferson  received  the  votes  of  seven  out  of  the  sixteen  states;  to 
wit,  the  8  votes  of  South  Carolina,  the  4  of  Georgia,  the  3  of  Tennessee, 
and  the  4  of  Kentucky;  14  of  the  15  votes  of  Pennsylvania,  20  of  the  21 
votes  of  Virginia,  and  11  of  the  12  votes  of  North  Carolina.  He  also  re- 
ceived 4  of  the  11  votes  of  Maryland. 


THE  LIFE  OP  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  533 

He  expresses  similar  sentiments  in  a  letter  to  Governor  Rut- 
ledge  of  South  Carolina,  ten  days  afterwards.  "I  had  retired," 
he  said,  "after  five-and-twenty  years  of  constant  occupation  in 
public  affairs,  and  total  abandonment  of  my  own.  I  retired 
much  poorer  than  when  I  entered  the  public  service,  and  de- 
sired nothing  but  rest  and  oblivion.  My  name,  however,  was 
again  brought  forward,  without  concert  or  expectation  on  my 
part;  (on  my  salvation,  I  declare  it;)  I  do  not  as  yet  know  the 
result,  as  a  matter  of  fact;  for  in  my  retired  canton  we  have 
nothing  later  from  Philadelphia  than  of  the  second  week  of  this 

month.     Yet  I  have  never  one  moment  doubted  the  result 

On  principles  of  public  respect  I  should  not  have  refused;  but  I 
protest,  before  my  God,  that  I  shall,  from  the  bottom  of  my 
heart,  rejoice  at  escaping.  I  know  well  that  no  man  will  ever 
bring  out  of  that  office  the  reputation  which  carries  him  into  it. 
I  have  no  ambition  to  govern  men;  no  passion  which  would  lead 
me  to  delight  to  ride  in  a  storm.  Flumina  amo  syhasque  in- 


On  the  following  day,  December  28th,  he  addressed  a  letter 
to  Mr.  Adams,  in  which  he  states,  that  though  he  did  not  cer- 
tainly know  the  result  of  the  election,  he  never  doubted  it,  and 
improbable  as  it  might  seem,  he  never  wished  for  any  other. 
He  hints  to  Mr.  Adams  that  he  might  be  cheated  out  of  his  suc- 
cession by  his  arch  friend  of  New  York,  meaning  Hamilton,  who 
was  known  not  to  be  partial  to  Mr.  Adams.  He  professes  senti- 
ments of  friendship  and  esteem,  and  repeats  the  unambitious  dis- 
claimer made  to  Mr.  Rutledge,  as  well  as  his  opinion  of  the  diffi- 
culties in  prospect  to  those  who  would  have  the  direction  of 
public  affairs. 

The  same  sentiments  were  expressed  to  Mr.  Madison  in  a  let- 
ter of  the  1st  of  January,  ere  he  had  been  informed  of  the  re- 
sult of  the  election.  "It  is  difficult,"  he  remarks,  "to  obtain  full 
credit  to  declarations  of  disinclination  to  honours,  and  most  so 
with  those  who  still  remain  in  the  world.  But  never  was  there 
a  more  solid  unwillingness,  founded  on  rigorous  calculation, 
formed  in  the  mind  of  any  man,  short  of  peremptory  refusal. 
No  arguments,  therefore,  were  necessary  to  reconcile  me  to  a 
relinquishment  of  the  first  office,  or  acceptance  of  the  second. 


534  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

No  motive  could  have  induced  me  to  undertake  the  first,  hut 
that  of  putting  our  vessel  upon  her  republican  tack,  and  pre- 
venting her  being  driven  too  far  to  leeward  of  her  true  princi- 
ples." He  professes  no  unwillingness  to  take  the  office  of  vice- 
president,  or  to  be  placed  in  a  secondary  station  to  Mr.  Adams, 
who  had  always  been  his  senior.  He  adds,  "If  Mr.  Adams  could 
be  induced  to  administer  the  government  on  its  true  principles, 
quitting  his  bias  for  an  English  constitution,  it  would  be  worthy 
of  consideration  whether  it  would  not  be  for  the  public  good, 
to  come  to  a  good  understanding  with  him  as  to  his  future  elec- 
tions. He  is  the  only  sure  barrier  against  Hamilton's  getting 
in." 

It  is  altogether  unreasonable  to  question  the  sincerity  of  these 
declarations  of  Mr.  Jefferson  concerning  the  presidency,  as  his 
enemies  affect  to  do;  when  made  so  continually  and  in  the  same 
strain,  not  to  those  who  were  less  intimate  with  him,  but  to  his 
most  confidential  friends,  and  who  consequently  must  have  been 
aware  of  their  hollowness  and  insincerity,  had  such  been  their 
character.  No  object  can  be  assigned  sufficient  to  warrant  such 
a  risk  of  losing  that  good  opinion  which  he  had  always  so  highly 
prized.  A  state  of  feeling  confessedly  at  variance  with  the  ordina- 
ry tenor  of  human  desires  is  rendered  less  improbable  from  the 
difficulties  that  were  fast  gathering  around  our  foreign  affairs, 
and  the  unfeigned  distrust  he  had  of  his  own  qualifications  for 
conducting  the  nation  through  a  period  of  war,  which  to  his 
mind  was  inevitable.  This  consideration  seemed  to  present  it- 
self whenever  he  mentioned  the  office  of  president;  and  to  all 
his  correspondents  he  spoke  of  the  "storm  that  was  impending," 
and  of  "the  difficulty  of  avoiding  its  fury." 

But  whatever  were  his  motives,  it  must  be  admitted  that  he 
bore  his  defeat  with  the  best  possible  grace,  and  that,  gratified 
by  the  proofs  of  public  confidence  and  esteem  he  had  received, 
he  seemed  to  think  more  of  the  cares  and  risks  he  had  escaped 
than  of  the  power  and  distinction  he  had  missed;  and  he  prepared 
to  discharge  the  far  humbler  duties  to  which  his  country  had 
assigned  him,  with  his  wonted  cheerfulness,  diligence,  and 
fidelity. 


APPENDIX. 


[A,  p.  77.] 

Articles  of  Confederation  and  perpetual  union  entered  into  by  the  De- 
legates of  the  several  colonies  of  New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  cfc. 
in  General  Congress,  met  at  Philadelphia,  May  20th,  1775. 

I.  The  name  of  the  confederacy  shall  henceforth  be.  The  United  Co- 
lonies of  North  America. 

II.  The  United  Colonies  hereby  severally  enter  into  a  firm  league  of 
friendship  with  each  other,  binding  on  themselves  and  their  posterity, 
for  their  common  defence  against  their  enemies,  for  the  security  of  their 
liberties  and  their  properties,  the  safety  of  their  persons  and  families,  and 
their  mutual  and  general  welfare. 

III.  That  each  colony  shall  enjoy  and  retain  as  much  as  it  may  think 
fit  of  its  own  present  laws,  customs,  rights,  privileges,  and  peculiar  juris- 
dictions, within  its  own  limits;  and  may  amend  its  own  constitution,  as 
shall  seem  best  to  its  own  assembly  or  convention. 

IV.  That  for  the  more  convenient  management  of  general  interests, 
delegates  shall  be  elected  annually,  in  each  colony,  to  meet  in  general 
Congress,  at  such  time  and  place  as  shall  be  agreed  on  in  the  next  pre- 
ceding Congress.    Only  where  particular  circumstances  do  not  make  a 
deviation  necessary,  it  is  understood  to  be  a  rule  that  each  succeeding 
Congress  is  to  be  held  in  a  different  colony,  till  the  whole  number  be  gone 
through,  and  so  in  perpetual  rotation;  and  that,  accordingly,  the  next 
Congress  after  the  present  shall  be  held  at  Annapolis,  in  Maryland. 

V.  That  the  power  and  duty  of  the  Congress  shall  extend  to  the  de- 
termining on  war  and  peace,  the  entering  into  alliances,  the  reconciliation 
with  Great  Britain,  the  settling  all  disputes  between  colony  and  colony, 
if  any  should  arise,  and  the  planting  new  colonies  where  proper.    The 
Congress  shall  also  make  such  general  ordinances  thought  necessary  to 
the  general  welfare,  of  which  particular  assemblies  cannot  be  competent, 
viz:  those  that  may  relate  to  our  general  commerce  or  general  currency, 
to  the  establishment  of  posts,  the  regulation  of  our  common  forces;  the 
Congress  shall  also  have  the  appointment  of  all  officers,  civil  and  military, 
appertaining  to  the  general  confederacy,  such  as  general  treasurer,  se- 
cretary, &c.  &c.  &c. 

VI.  All  charges  of  war,  and  all  other  general  expenses  to  be  incurred 


536  APPENDIX. 

for  the  common  welfare,  shall  be  defrayed  out  of  a  common  treasury, 
which  is  to  be  supplied  by  each  colony,  in  proportion  to  its  number  of 
male  polls  between  16  and  60  years  of  age;  the  taxes  for  paying  that  pro- 
portion are  to  be  laid  and  levied  by  the  lavvs  of  each  colony. 

VII.  The  number  of  delegates  to  be  elected  and  sent  to  the  Congress 
by  each  colony,  shall  be  regulated  from  time  to  time,  by  the  number  of 
such  polls  returned,  so  as  that  one  delegate  shall  be  allowed  for  every 
5000  polls.   And  the  delegates  are  to  bring  with  them  to  every  Congress 
an  authenticated  return  of  the  number  of  polls  in  their  respective  colo- 
nies, which  is  to  be  taken  for  the  purposes  above-mentioned. 

VIII.  At  every  meeting  of  the  Congress,  one  half  of  the  members  re- 
turned, exclusive  of  proxies,  shall  be  necessary  to  make  a  quorum;  and 
each  delegate  at  the  Congress  shall  have  a  vote  in  all  cases;  and,  if  ne- 
cessarily absent,  shall  be  allowed  to  appoint  any  other  delegate  from  the 
same  colony  to  be  his  proxy,  who  may  vote  for  him. 

IX.  An  Executive  Council  shall  be  appointed  by  the  Congress  out  of 
their  own  body,  consisting  of  twelve  persons,  of  whom,  in  the  first  appoint- 
ment, one  third,  viz:  four  shall  be  for  one  year,  four  for  two  years,  and 
four  for  three  years;  and,  as  the  said  terms  expire,  the  vacancies  shall  be 
filled  up  by  appointment  for  three  years,  whereby  one-third  of  the  mem- 
bers shall  be  chosen  annually;  and  each  person  who  has  served  the  same 
term  of  three  years  as  counsellor,  shall  have  a  respite  of  three  years  be- 
fore he  can  be  elected  again.    This  council,  of  whom  two-thirds  shall  be 
a  quorum,  in  the  recess  of  the  Congress  is  to  execute  what  shall  have 
been  enjoined  thereby;  to  manage  the.  general  continental  business  and 
interests,  to  receive  applications  from  foreign  countries,  to  prepare 
matters  for  the  consideration  of  the  Congress,  to  fill  up,  pro  tempore, 
continental  offices  that  fall  vacant,  and  to  draw  on  the  general  treasurer 
for  such  monies  as  may  be  necessary  for  general  services,  and  appro- 
priated by  the  Congress  to  such  services. 

X.  No  colony  shall  engage  in  an  offensive  war  with  any  nation  of  In- 
dians, without  the  consent  of  the  Congress  or  great  council  above  men- 
tioned, who  are  first  to  consider  the  justice  and  necessity  of  such  war. 

XL  A  perpetual  alliance,  offensive  and  defensive,  is  to  be  entered  into, 
as  soon  as  may  be,  with  the  Six  Nations;  their  limits  ascertained,  and  to 
be  secured  to  them;  these  lands  not  to  be  encroached  on,  nor  any  private 
or  colony  purchase  to  be  made  of  them  hereafter  to  be  held  good,  nor  any 
contract  for  lands  to  be  made  but  between  the  great  council  of  the  In- 
dians at  Onondaga  and  the  general  Congress.  The  boundaries  and  lands 
of  all  other  Indians  shall  also  be  ascertained  and  secured  to  them  in  the 
same  manner;  and  persons  appointed  to  reside  among  them  in  proper 
districts,  who  shall  take  care  to  prevent  injustice  in  the  trade  with  them; 
and  be  enabled  at  our  general  expense,  by  occasional  small  supplies,  to 
relieve  their  personal  wants  and  distresses;  and  all  purchases  from  them 
shall  be  by  the  Congress,  for  the  general  advantage  and  benefit  of  the 
United  Colonies. 

XII.  As  all  new  institutions  may  have  imperfections,  which  only  time 


APPENDIX.  537 

and  experience  can  discover,  it  is  agreed  that  the  General  Congress, 
from  time  to  time,  shall  propose  such  amendments  to  this  constitution 
as  may  be  found  necessary,  which  being  approved  by  a  majority  of  the 
colony  assemblies,  shall  be  equally  binding  with  the  rest  of  the  articles 
of  this  confederation. 

XIII.  Any  and  every  colony  from  Great  Britain  upon  the  continent  of 
North  America,  not  at  present  engaged  in  our  association,  may,  upon 
application,  and  joining  the  said  association,  be  received  into  the  con- 
federation, viz:  auebec,  St.  Johns,  Nova  Scotia,  Bermudas,  and  the  East 
and  West  Floridas,  and  shall  thereupon  be  entitled  to  all  the  advantages 
of  our  union,  mutual  assistance  and  commerce. 

These  articles  shall  be  proposed  to  the  several  provincial  conventiona 
or  assemblies,  to  be  by  them  considered;  and,  if  approved,  they  are  ad- 
vised to  impower  their  delegates  to  agree  and  ratify  the  same  in  the 
ensuing  Congress;  after  which  the  union  thereby  established  is  to  con- 
tinue firm,  till  the  terms  of  reconciliation  proposed  in  the  petition  of  tho 
last  Congress  to  the  King  are  agreed  to;  till  the  acts,  since  made,  re- 
straining the  American  commerce  and  fisheries,  are  repealed;  till  repa- 
ration is  made  for  the  injury  done  to  Boston  by  shutting  up  its  port;  for 
burning  Charlestown,  and  for  the  expense  of  this  unjust  war;  and  till  all 
the  British  troops  are  withdrawn  from  America.  On  the  arrival  of  theee 
events,  the  colonies  are  to  return  to  their  former  connexions  and  friend- 
ship with  Great  Britain;  but  on  failure  thereof,  this  confederation  is  to 
be  perpetual. 

[B,p.90.J 

A  Declaration  by  the  Representatives  of  the  United  States  of  America t 
in  General  Congress  assembled.* 

When,  in  the  course  of  human  events,  it  becomes  necessary  for  one 
people  to  dissolve  the  political  bands  which  have  connected  them  with 
another,  and  to  assume  among  the  powers  of  the  earth  the  separate  and 
equal  station  to  which  the  laws  of  nature  and  of  nature's  God  entitle 
them,  a  decent  respect  to  the  opinions  of  mankind  requires  that  they 
should  declare  the  causes  which  impel  them  to  the  separation. 

We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident:  that  all  men  are  created  equal; 
that  they  are  endowed  by  their  creater  with  [inherent  and*]  inalienable 
rights;  that  among  these  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness; 
that  to  secure  these  rights,  governments  are  instituted  among  men,  de- 
riving their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed;  that  whenever 
any  form  of  government  becomes  destructive  of  these  ends,  it  is  the  right 
of  the  people  to  alter  or  abolish  it,  and  to  institute  new  government,  laj 

*  The  parts  struck  out  are  printed  in  Italics  and  enclosed  in  brackets. 
The  additions  are  placed  in  foot  notes. 
» Certain  inalienable  rights. 
VOL.  I.— 68 


538  APPENDIX. 

ing  its  foundation  on  such  principles,  and  organizing  its  powers  in  such 
form,  as  to  them  shall  seem  most  likely  to  effect  their  safely  and  happi- 
ness. Prudence,  indeed,  will  dictate  that  governments  long  established 
should  not  be  changed  for  light  and  transient  causes;  and  accordingly  all  ex- 
perience hath  shown  that  mankind  are  more  disposed  to  suffer  while  evils 
are  sufferable,  than  to  right  themselves  by  abolishing  the  forms  to  which 
they  are  accustomed.  But  when  a  long  train  of  abuses  and  usurpations 
[begun  at  a  distinguished  period  and]  pursuing  invariably  the  same  ob- 
ject, evinces  a  design  to  reduce  them  under  absolute  despotism,  it  is 
their  right,  it  is  their  duty  to  throw  off  such  government,  and  to  provide 
new  guards  for  their  future  security.  Such  has  been  the  patient  suffer- 
ance of  these  colonies;  and  such  is  now  the  necessity  which  constrains 
them  to  [expunge*]  their  former  systems  of  government.  The  history 
of  the  present  king  of  Great  Britain  is  a  history  of  [unremitting^]  injuries 
and  usurpations,  [among  which  appears  no  solitary  fact  to  contradict 
theuniform  tenor  of  the  rest,  but  all  havec]  in  direct  object  the  establish- 
ment of  an  absolute  tyranny  over  these  states.  To  prove  this,  let  facts 
be  submitted  to  a  candid  world  [for  the  truth  of  which  we  pledge  a  faith 
yet  unsullied  by  falsehood.] 

He  has  refused  his  assent  to  laws  the  most  wholesome  and  necessary 
for  the  public  good. 

He  has  forbidden  his  governors  to  pass  laws  of  immediate  and  pressing 
importance,  unless  suspended  in  their  operation  till  his  assent  should  be 
obtained;  and,  when  so  suspended,  he  has  utterly  neglected  to  attend  to 
them. 

He  has  refused  to  pass  other  laws  for  the  accommodation  of  large  dis- 
tricts of  people,  unless  those  people  would  relinquish  the  right  of  repre- 
sentation in  the  legislature,  a  right  inestimable  to  them,  and  formidable 
to  tyrants  only. 

He  has  called  together  legislative  bodies  at  places  unusual,  uncomfort- 
able, and  distant  from  the  depository  of  their  public  records,  for  the  sole 
purpose  of  fatiguing  them  into  compliance  with  his  measures. 

He  has  dissolved  representative  houses  repeatedly  [and  continually] 
for  opposing  with  manly  firmness  his  invasions  on  the  rights  of  the  people. 

He  has  refused  for  a  long  time  after  such  dissolutions  to  cause  others 
to  be  elected,  whereby  the  legislative  powers,  incapable  of  annihilation, 
have  returned  to  the  people  at  large  for  their  exercise,  the  state  remain- 
ing, in  the  mean  time,  exposed  to  all  the  dangers  of  invasion  from  with- 
out and  convulsions  within. 

He  has  endeavoured  to  prevent  the  population  of  these  states;  for  that 
purpose  obstructing  the  laws  for  naturalization  of  foreigners,  refusing  to 
pass  others  to  encourage  their  migrations  hither,  and  raising  the  condi- 
tions of  new  appropriations  of  lands. 

He  has  [suffered^}  the  administration  of  justice  [totally  to  cease  in 

»  Alter.  b  Repeated  injuries.  e  All  having  in  direct  object. 

<i  Obstructed. 


APPEXDIX.  539 

some  of  these  states*]  refusing  his  assent  to  laws  for  establishine  judiciary 
powers. 

He  has  made  [our]  judges  dependant  on  his  will  alone  for  the  tenure  of 
their  offices,  and  the  amount  and  payment  of  their  salaries. 

He  has  erected  a  multitude  of  new  offices,  [by  a  self-assumed  power] 
and  sent  hither  swarms  of  new  officers  to  harass  our  people  and  eat  out 
their  substance. 

He  has  kept  among  us  in  times  of  peace  standing  armies  [and.  ships  of 
war]  without  the  consent  of  our  legislatures. 

He  has  affected  to  render  the  military  independent  of,  and  superior  to, 
the  civil  power. 

He  has  combined  with  others  to  subject  us  to  a  jurisdiction  foreign  to 
our  constitutions  and  unacknowledged  by  our  laws,  giving  his  assent  to 
their  acts  of  pretended  legislation  for  quartering  large  bodies  of  armed 
troops  among  us;  for  protecting  them  by  a  mock  trial  from  punishment 
for  any  murders  which  they  should  commit  on  the  inhabitants  of  these 
states;  for  cutting  off  our  trade  with  all  parts  of  the  world;  for  imposing 
taxes  on  us  without  our  consent;  for  depriving  us  [b]  of  the  benefits  of 
trial  by  jury;  for  transporting  us  beyond  seas  to  be  tried  for  pretended 
offences;  for  abolishing  the  free  system  of  English  laws  in  a  neighbour- 
ing province,  establishing  therein  an  arbitrary  government,  and  enlarg- 
ing its  boundaries,  so  as  to  render  it  at  once  an  example  and  fit  instru- 
ment for  introducing  the  same  absolute  rule  into  these  [states'];  for  taking 
away  our  charters,  abolishing  our  most  valuable  laws,  and  altering  fun- 
damentally the  forms  of  our  governments;  for  suspending  our  own  legis- 
latures, and  declaring  themselves  invested  with  power  to  legislate  for  us 
in  all  cases  whatsoever. 

He  has  abdicated  government  here  [withdrawing  his  governors,  and 
declaring  us  out  of  his  allegiance  and  protection.*] 

He  has  plundered  our  seas,  ravaged  our  coasts,  burnt  our  towns,  and 
destroyed  the  lives  of  our  people. 

He  is  at  this  time  transporting  large  armies  of  foreign  mercenaries  to 
complete  the  works  of  death,  desolation,  and  tyranny  already  begun  with 
circumstances  of  cruelty  and  perfidy  [e]  unworthy  the  head  of  a  civilized 
nation. 

He  has  constrained  our  fellow  citizens  taken  captive  on  the  high  seas 
to  bear  arms  against  their  country,  to  become  the  executioners  of  their 
friends  and  brethren,  or  to  fall  themselves  by  their  hands. 

He  has  [f]  endeavoured  to  bring  on  the  inhabitants  of  our  frontiers  the 
merciless  Indian  savages,  whose  known  rule  of  warfare  is  an  undistin- 
guished destruction  of  all  ages,  sexes,  and  conditions  [of  existence.] 

»  By  refusing  his  assent  to  laws.  b  In  many  cases.  '  Colonies. 

d  By  declaring  us  out  of  his  protection  and  waging  war  against  us. 
•  Scarcely  paralleled  in  the  most  barbarous  ages  and  totally, 
f  Excited  domestic  insurrections  among  us,  and  has. 


540  APPENDIX. 

[He  has  incited  treasonable  insurrections  of  our  fellow  citizens,  with 
the  allurements  of  forfeiture  and  confiscation  of  our  property. 

He  has  waged  cruel  war  against  human  nature  itself,  violating  its 
most  sacred  rights  of  life  and  liberty  in  the  persons  of  a  distant  people 
who  never  offended  him,  captivating  and  carrying  them  into  slavery  in 
another  hemisphere,  or  to  incur  miserable  death  in  their  transportation 
thither.  This  piratical  warfare,  the  opprobrium,  of  INFIDEL,  powers,  is 
the  warfare  of  the  CHRISTIAN  king  of  Great  Britain.  Determined  to  keep 
open  a  market  where  MEN  should  be  bought  and  sold,  he  has  prostituted 
his  negative  for  suppressing  every  legislative  attempt  to  prohibit  or  to 
restrain  this  execrable  commerce.  And  that  this  assemblage  of  horrors 
might  want  no  fact  of  distinguished  die,  he  is  now  exciting  those  very 
people  to  raise  in  arms  among  us,  and  to  purchase  that  liberty  of  which 
he  has  deprived  them,  by  murdering  the  people  on  whom  he  also  obtruded 
them:  thus  paying  off  former  crimes  committed  against  the  LIBERTIES  of 
one  people  with  crimes  which  he  urges  them  to  commit  against  the  LIVES 
of  another.] 

In  every  stage  of  these  oppressions  we  have  petitioned  for  redress  in 
the  most  humble  terms:  our  repeated  addresses  have  been  answered  only 
by  repeated  injuries. 

A  prince  whose  character  is  thus  marked  by  every  act  which  may  de- 
fine a  tyrant  is  unfit  to  be  the  ruler  of  a  [a]  people  [who  mean  to  be  free. 
Future  ages  will  scarcely  believe  that  the  hardiness  of  one  man  adven- 
tured, within  the  short  compass  of  twelve  years  only,  to  lay  a  foundation 
so  broad  and  so  undisguised  for  tyranny  over  a  people  fostered  and  fix- 
ed in  principles  of  freedom.} 

Nor  have  we  been  wanting  in  attentions  to  our  British  brethren.  We 
have  warned  them  from  time  to  time  of  attempts  by  their  legislature  to 
extend  [ab]  jurisdiction  over  [these  our  states'}.  We  have  reminded  them 
of  the  circumstances  of  our  emigration  and  settlement  here,  [no  one  of 
which  could  warrant  so  strange  a  pretension:  that  these  were  effected  at 
the  expense  of  our  own  blood  and  treasure,  iinassisted  by  the  wealth  or 
the  strength  of  Great  Britain:  that  in  constituting  indeed  our  several 
forms  of  government,  we  had  adopted  one  common  king,  thereby  laying 
a  foundation  for  perpetual  league  and  amity  with  them:  but  that  sub- 
mission to  their  parliament  was  no  part  of  our  constitution,  nor  ever  in 
idea,  if  history  may  be  credited:  and,}  we  [d]  appealed  to  their  native 
justice  and  magnanimity  [as  well  as  toe]  the  ties  of  our  common  kindred 
to  disavow  these  usurpations  which  [were  likely  to!]  interrupt  our  con- 
nexion and  correspondence.  They  too  have  been  deaf  to  the  voice  of 
justice  and  of  consanguinity,  [and  when  occasions  have  been  given  them, 
by  the  regular  course  of  their  laws,  of  removing  from  their  councils  the 
disturbers  of  our  harmony,  they  have,  by  their  free  election,  re-establish- 
ed them  in  power.  At  this  very  time  too,  they  are  permitting  their  chief 

»  Free.  '"  An  unwarrantable  jurisdiction.  c  Us.  a  Have. 

« And  we  have  conjured  them  by  the  ties.          f  Would  inevitably  interrupt. 


APPENDIX.  541 

magistrate  to  send  over  not  only  soldiers  of  our  common  blood,  but  Scotch 
and  foreign  mercenaries  to  invade  and  destroy  us.  These  facts  have 
given  the  last  stab  to  agonizing-  affection,  and  manly  spirit  bids  us  to 
renounce  for  ever  these  unfeeling  brethren.  We  must  endeavour  to  for- 
get our  former  love  for  them,  and  hold  them  as  we  hold  the  rest  of  man- 
kind, enemies  in  war,  in  peace  friends.  We  might  have  been  a  free  and 
a  great  people  together;  but  a  communication  of  grandeur  and  of  free- 
dom, it  seems,  is  below  their  dignity.  Be  it  so,  since  they  will  have  it. 
The  road  to  happiness  and  to  glory  is  open  to  us  too.  We  will  tread  it 
apart  from  them,  and*]  acquiesce  in  the  necessity  which  denounces  our 
[eternal]  separation  [b]! 

We  therefore  the  representatives  of  the  United  States  of  America  in 
General  Congress  assembled,  do  in  the  name,  and  by  the  authority  of  the 
good  people  of  these  [states  reject  and  renounce  all  allegiance  and  sub- 
jection to  the  kings  of  Great  Britain  and  all  others  who  may  hereafter 
claim  by,  through,  or  under  them;  we  utterly  dissolve  all  political  con- 
nexion which  may  Jieretofore  have  subsisted  between  us  and  the  people 
or  parliament  of  Great  Britain:  and  finally  we  do  assert  and  declare 
these  colonies  to  be  free  and  independent  states,]  and  that  as  free  and  in- 
dependent states,  they  have  full  power  to  levy  war,  conclude  peace,  con- 
tract alliances,  establish  commerce,  and  to  do  all  other  acts  and  thingi 
which  independent  states  may  of  right  do.c 

And  for  the  support  of  this  declaration,  we  mutually  pledge  to  each 
other  our  lives,  our  fortunes,  and  our  sacred  honour.4 

[C,  p.  90.] 

In  a  parcel  found  among  Mr.  Jefferson's  papers  is  a  parcel  indorsed, 
"Papers  of  old  Congress,"  containing  the  original  draughts  or  copies  of 
the  following  documents,  drawn  by  him: 

1.  Declaration  of  the  causes  of  taking  up  arms. 

*  We  must  therefore  acquiesce. 

«>  And  hold  them  as  we  hold  the  rest  of  mankind,  enemies  in  war,  in  peace 
friends. 

c  We  therefore  the  representatives  of  the  United  States  of  America  in  Gene- 
ral Congress  assembled,  appealing  to  the  supreme  judge  of  the  world  for  the 
rectitude  of  our  intentions,  do  in  the  name,  and  by  the  authority  of  the  good 
people  of  these  colonies,  solemnly  publish  and  declare,  that  these  united  colo- 
nies are,  and  of  right  ought  to  be,  free  and  independent  states;  that  they  are 
absolved  from  all  allegiance  to  the  British  crown,  and  that  all  political  con- 
nexion between  them  and  the  state  of  Great  Britain  is,  and  ought  to  be,  to- 
tally dissolved;  and  that  as  free  and  independent  states,  they  have  full  power 
to  levy  war,  conclude  peace,  contract  alliances,  establish  commerce,  and  to  do 
all  other  acts  and  things  which  independent  states  may  of  right  do. 

a  And  for  the  support,  of  this  declaration,  with  a  firm  reliance  on  the  protec- 
tion of  divine  providence,  we  mutually  pledge  to  each  other  our  lives,  oui 
tunes,  and  our  sacred  honour. 


542  APPENDIX. 

2.  Resolution  accepting  General  Sullivan's  resignation. 

3.  "A  Declaration  [or  Letter  to  General  Howe]  in  Allen's  case." 

4.  A  recommendation  to  the  "several  provincial  assemblies  or  conven- 
tions of  the  United  Colonies,"  to  elect  delegates  to  Congress  for  one  year 
only,  and  annually  to  displace  one  half  the  delegation;  so  that  no  member 
should  he  in  more  than  two  years  consecutively. 

5.  Resolutions  inviting  foreigners  to  quit  the  service  of  the  king  of 
Great  Britain,  and  promising  them  land. 

6.  Resolutions  on  "the  Articles  inclosed  by  Lord  Drmnmond  to  Lord 
Howe." 

7.  Resolution  asserting  the  determination  to  retaliate  upon  the  enemy 
for  any  executions,  &c.  of  prisoners. 

8.  Resolution  in  answer  to  "the  Resolution  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons," [Lord  North's  conciliatory  propositions,]  by  Thomas  Jefferson, 
with  an  amendment  in  the  hand  writing  of  Dr.  Franklin. 

[D,  p.  99.] 

AN  ACT  for  establishing  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM,  passed  in  the  Assembly 
of  Virginia  in  the  beginning  of  the  year  1786. 

WELL  aware  that  Almighty  God  hath  created  the  mind  free;  that  all 
attempts  to  influence  it  by  temporal  punishments  or  burdens,  or  by  civil 
incapacitations,  tend  only  to  beget  habits  of  hypocrisy  and  meanness,  and 
are  a  departure  from  the  plan  of  the  Holy  Author  of  .our  religion,  who 
being  Lord  both  of  body  and  mind,  yet  chose  not  to  propagate  it  by  coer- 
cions on  either  as  was  in  his  Almighty  power  to  do;  that  the  impious 
presumption  of  legislators  and  rulers,  civil  as  well  as  ecclesiastical,  who, 
being  themselves  but  fallible  and  uninspired  men  have  assumed  dominion 
over  the  faith  of  others,  setting  up  their  own  opinions  and  modes  of 
thinking  as  the  only  true  and  infallible,  and  as  such  endeavouring  to  im- 
pose them  on  others,  hath  established  and  maintained  false  religions 
over  the  greatest  part  of  the  world,  and  through  all  time;  that  to  com- 
pel a  man  to  furnish  contributions  of  money  for  the  propagation  of  opin- 
ions which  he  disbelieves,  is  sinful  and  tyrannical;  that  even  the  forcing 
him  to  support  this  or  that  teacher  of  his  own  religious  persuasion,  is  de- 
priving him  of  the  comfortable  liberty  of  giving  his  contributions  to  the 
particular  pastor  whose  morals  he  would  make  his  pattern,  and  whose 
powers  he  feels  most  persuasive  to  righteousness,  and  is  withdrawing 
from  the  ministry  those  temporal  rewards  which  proceeding  from  an  ap- 
probation of  their  personal  conduct,  are  an  additional  incitement  to  earn- 
e^t  and  unremitting  labours  for  the  instruction  of  mankind;  that  our  civil 
rights  have  no  dependance  on  our  religious  opinions,  more  than  our 
opinions  in  physics  or  geometry;  that  therefore  the  proscribing  any  citi- 
zen as  unworthy  the  public  confidence  by  laying  upon  him  an  incapacity 
of  being  called  to  the  offices  of  trust  and  emolument,  unless  he  profess 
or  renounce  this  or  that  religious  opinion,  is  depriving  him  injuriously  of 


APPENDIX.  543 

those  privileges  and  advantages  to  which  in  common  with  his  fellow- 
citizens  he  has  a  natural  right;  that  it  tends  also  to  corrupt  the  principles 
of  that  very  religion  it  is  meant  to  encourage,  by  bribing,  with  a  monopo- 
ly of  worldly  honours  and  emoluments,  those  who  will  externally  pro- 
fess and  conform  to  it;  that  though  indeed  these  are  criminal  who  do  not 
withstand  such  temptation,  yet  neither  are  those  innocent  who  lay  the 
bait  in  their  way;  that  to  suffer  the  civil  magistrate  to  intrude  his  powers 
into  the  field  of  opinion  and  to  restrain  the  profession  or  propagation  of 
principles,  on  the  supposition  of  their  ill  tendency,  is  a  dangerous  fallacy, 
which  at  once  destroys  all  religious  liberty,  because  he  being  of  course 
judge  of  that  tendency,  will  make  his  opinions  the  rule  of  judgment,  and 
approve  or  condemn  the  sentiments  of  others  only  as  they  shall  square 
with  or  differ  from  his  own;  that  it  is  time  enough  for  the  rightful  pur- 
poses of  civil  government,  for  its  officers  to  interfere  when  principles 
break  out  into  overt  acts  against  peace  and  good  order;  and  finally,  that 
truth  is  great  and  will  prevail  if  left  to  herself,  that  she  is  the  proper 
and  sufficient  antagonist  to  error,  and  has  nothing  to  fear  from  the  con- 
flict, unless  by  human  interposition  disarmed  of  her  natural  weapons, 
free  argument  and  debate,  errors  ceasing  to  be  dangerous  when  it  is 
permitted  freely  to  contradict  them. 

Be  it  therefore  enacted  by  the  General  Assembly,  That  no  man  shall 
be  compelled  to  frequent  or  support  any  religious  worship,  place  or 
ministry  whatsoever,  nor  shall  be  enforced,  restrained,  molested,  or 
burthened  in  his  body  or  goods,  nor  shall  otherwise  suffer  on  account  of 
his  religious  opinions  or  belief;  but  that  all  men  shall  be  free  to  profess, 
and  by  argument  to  maintain,  their  opinions  in  matters  of  religion,  and 
that  the  same  shall  in  no  wise  diminish,  enlarge,  or  affect  their  civil 
capacities. 

And  though  we  well  know  that  this  Assembly,  elected  by  the  people 
for  the  ordinary  purposes  of  legislation  only,  have  no  power  to  restrain 
the  acts  of  succeeding  Assemblies,  constituted  with  the  power  equal  to 
our  own,  and  that  therefore  to  declare  this  act  irrevocable,  would  be  of 
no  effect  in  law,  yet  we  are  free  to  declare,  and  do  declare,  that  the 
rights  hereby  asserted  are  of  the  natural  rights  of  mankind,  and  that  if 
any  act  shall  be  hereafter  passed  to  repeal  the  present  or  to  narrow  its 
operation,  such  act  will  be  an  infringement  of  natural  right. 

[E,  p.  206.] 
Account  of  the  Paper  Money  of  the  Revolution. 

Previous  to  the  late  revolution,  most  of  the  States  were  in  the  habit, 
whenever  they  had  occasion  for  more  money  than  could  be  raised  imme- 
diately, by  taxes,  to  issue  paper  notes  or  bills,  in  the  name  of  the  State, 
wherein  they  promised  to  pay  to  the  hearer,  the  sum  named  in  the  note 
or  bill.  In  some  of  the  states,  no  time  of  payment  was  fixed,  nor  tax 
laid  to  enable  payment.  In  these,  the  bills  depreciated.  But  others  of 


544  APPENDIX. 

the  states  named  in  the  bill  the  day  when  it  should  be  paid,  laid  taxes  to 
bring  in  money  for  that  purpose,  and  paid  the  bills  punctually,  on  or  be- 
fore the  day  named.  In  these  states,  paper  money  was  in  as  high  esti- 
mation as  gold  and  silver.  On  the  commencement  of  the  late  Revo- 
lution, Congress  had  no  money.  The  external  commerce  of  the  states 
being  suppressed,  the  farmer  could  not  sell  his  produce,  and,  of  course, 
could  not  pay  a  tax.  Congress  had  no  resource  then,  but  in  paper 
money.  Not  being  able  to  lay  a  tax  for  its  redemption,  they  could  only 
promise  that  taxes  should  be  laid  for  that  purpose,  so  as  to  redeem  the 
bills  by  a  certain  day.  They  did  not  foresee  the  long  continuance  of  the  war, 
the  almost  total  suppression  of  their  exports,  and  other  events,  which 
rendered  the  performance  of  their  engagement  impossible.  The  paper 
money  continued,  for  a  twelvemonth,  equal  to  gold  and  silver.  But  the 
quantities  which  they  were  obliged  to  emit,  for  the  purposes  of  the  war, 
exceeded  what  had  been  the  usual  quantity  of  the  circulating  medium.  It 
began,  therefore  to  become  cheaper,  or, as  we  expressedit,it  depreciated, 
as  gold  and  silver  would  have  done,  had  they  been  thrown  into  circulation 
in  equal  quantities.  But  not  having,  like  them,  an  intrinsic  value,  its  de- 
preciation was  more  rapid,  and  greater,  than  could  ever  have  happened 
with  them.  In  two  years  it  had  fallen  to  two  dollars  of  paper  money  for 
one  of  silver;  in  three  years,  to  four  for  one;  in  nine  months  more,  it  fell 
to  ten  for  one;  and  in  the  six  months  following,  that  is  to  say,  by  Septem- 
ber, 1779,  it  had  fallen  to  twenty  for  one. 

Congress,  alarmed  at  the  consequences  which  were  to  be  apprehended, 
should  they  lose  this  resource  altogether,  thought  it  necessary  to  make  a 
vigorous  effort  to  stop  its  further  depreciation.  They,  therefore,  deter- 
mined, in  the  first  place,  that  their  emissions  should  not  exceed  two  hun- 
dred millions  of  dollars,  to  which  term  they  were  then  nearly  arrived: 
and,  though  they  knew  that  twenty  dollars  of  what  they  were  then  issu- 
ing, would  buy  no  more  for  their  army  than  one  silver  dollar  would  buy, 
yet  they  thought  it  would  be  worth  while  to  submit  to  the  sacrifices  of 
nineteen  out  of  twenty  dollars,  if  they  could  thereby  stop  further  depre- 
ciation. They,  therefore,  published  an  address  to  their  constituents,  in 
which  they  renewed  their  original  declarations,  that  this  paper  money 
should  be  redeemed  at  dollar  for  dollar.  They  proved  the  ability  of  the 
states  to  do  this,  and  that  their  liberty  would  be  cheaply  bought  at  that 
price.  The  declaration  was  ineffectual.  No  man  received  the  money  at 
a  better  rate;  on  the  contrary,  in  six  months  more,  that  is,  by  March,  1780, 
it  had  fallen  to  forty  for  one.  Congress  then  tried  an  experiment  of  a 
different  kind.  Considering  their  former  offers  to  redeem  this  money,  at 
par,  as  relinquished  by  the  genera]  refusal  to  take  it,  but  in  progressive 
depreciation,  they  required  the  whole  to  be  brought  in.  declared  it  should 
be  redeemed  at  its  present  value,  of  forty  for  one,  and  that  they  would 
give  to  the  holders  new  bills,  reduced  in  their  denomination  to  the  sum  of 
gold  or  silver,  which  was  actually  to  be  paid  for  them.  This  would  re- 
duce the  nominal  sum  of  the  mass  in  circulation,  to  the  present  worth  of 
that  mass,  which  was  five  millions;  a  sum  not  too  great  for  the  circulation 


APPENDIX.  545 

of  the  states,  and  which,  they  therefore  hoped,  would  not  depreciate  fur- 
ther, as  they  continued  firm  in  their  purpose  of  emitting  no  more.  This 
effort  was  as  unavailing  as  the  former.  Very  little  of  the  money  was 
brought  in.  It  continued  to  circulate  and  to  depreciate,  till  the  end  of 
1780,  when  it  had  fallen  to  seventy-five  for  one,  and  the  money  circulated 
from  the  French  army,  being,  by  that  time,  sensible  in  all  the  states  north 
of  the  Potomac,  the  paper  ceased  its  circulation  altogether,  in  those  states. 
In  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  it  continued  a  year  longer,  within  which 
time  it  fell  to  one  thousand  for  one,  and  then  expired,  as  it  had  done  in 
the  other  states,  without  a  single  groan.  Not  a  murmur  was  heard,  on 
this  occasion,  among  the  people.  On  the  contrary ,  universal  congratula- 
tions took  place,  on  their  seeing  this  gigantic  mass,  whose  dissolution 
had  threatened  convulsions  which  should  shake  their  infant  confederacy 
to  its  centre,  quietly  interred  in  its  grave.  Foreigners,  indeed,  who  do 
not,  like  the  natives,  feel  indulgence  for  its  memory ,  as  ofabeing  which  has 
vindicated  their  liberties,  and  fallen  in  the  moment  of  victory,  have  been 
loud,  and  still  are  loud  in  their  complaints.  A  few  of  them  have  reason; 
but  the  most  noisy  are  not  the  best  of  them.  They  are  per  sons  who  have 
become  bankrupt ,  by  unskilful  attempts  at  commerce  with  America.  That 
they  may  have  some  pretext  to  offer  to  their  creditors,  they  have  bought 
up  great  masses  of  this  dead  money  in  America,  where  it  is  to  be  had  at 
five  thousand  for  one,  and  they  show  the  certificates  of  their  paper  pos- 
sessions, as  if  they  had  all  died  in  their  hands,  and  had  been  the  cause  of 
their  bankruptcy.  Justice  will  be  done  to  all,  by  paying  to  all  persons 
what  this  money  actually  cost  them,  with  an  interest  of  six  per  cent. 
i'rom  the  time  they  received  it.  If  difficulties  present  themselves  in  the 
ascertaining  the  epoch  of  the  receipt,  it  has  been  thought  better  that  the 
state  should  lose,  by  admitting  easy  proofs,  than  that  individuals,  and 
especially  foreigners,  should,  by  being  held  to  such  as  would  be  difficult, 
perhaps  impossible. 


VOL.  I.— 69 


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tional Law,  with  a  Sketch  of  the  History  of  the  Science,  by  Henry 
Wheaton,  LL.  D.,  resident  Minister  from  the  United  States  to  the 
Court  of  Berlin.  &c.  In  1  vol.  8vo. 

"Extensive  and  careful  reading,  with  much  intercourse  with  courts, 
could  alone  have  procured  a  volume  of  this  character,  wherein  so  much 
information,  important  to  public  functionaries  and  professional  men,  and 
interesting  and  instructive  to  all  classes,  is  placed  in  such  a  condensed 
form.  The  volume  is  one  of  much  importance,  as  containing  the  best 
gleanings  from  all  the  correct  sources  of  information,  relative  to  those 
laws  which  regard  the  intercourse  between  independent  states,  and 
which  have  received  the  assent  of  civilized  and  Christian  nations.  The 
author  has  justly  used  the  olden  writers,  and  shown  wherein  the  new 
circumstances  of  nations  have  allowed  of  modifications  of  rules  and 
changes  of  custom." — United  States  Gazette. 

ENGLAND  in  1835;  being  a  series  of  Letters  written  to  friends  in  Ger- 
many during  a  residence  in  London,  and  excursions  into  the  provinces. 
By  Frederick  Von  Raumer,  Professor  of  History  in  the  University  of 
Berlin,  &c.  &c.  Translated  from  the  German  by  Sarah  Austin  and 
H.  E.  Loyd.  In  1  vol.  8vo. 

"Raumer's  book  gives  a  candid,  judicious,  and  amusing  picture  of  Eng- 
land and  the  English;  we  are  not  surprised  that  it  should  be  so  popular." 
— Asiatic  Journal. 

ADVENTURES  OF  A  GENTLEMAN  IN  SEARCH  OF  A  HORSE. 

By  Caveat  Emptor.  Gent.  One,  &c.,  with  wood  cuts.    In  1  vol.  12mo. 

"The  Adventures  of  a  Gentleman  in  Search  of  a  Horse,  is  one  of  those 
well  dressed  dishes  in  which  the  hand  of  a  good  cook  is  prominently  dis- 
cernible. It  is  full  of  information,  and  withal  so  pleasantly  written,  that 
while  it  takes  its  place  as  a  Manual  for  the  Fancy,  it  will  amuse  the 
generality  of  readers.  An  excellent  pocket  volume  for  the  traveller,  or 
the  lounger  at  the  Springs." — National  Gazette. 

THE  HEAVENS.    By  Robert  Mudie,  Author  of  "A  Guide  to  Obser- 
vations of  Nature,  &c.,  with  cuts.    In  1  vol.  12mo. 
"In  this,  as  in  all  that  God  has  made,  it  is  nature  itself  which  is  the 
book,  and  one  man  can  do  little  more  for  another  than  entice  him  to  the 
direct  perusal  of  this  volume,  and  it  has  this  charm  above  all  human 
learning,  however  valuable,  that  it  is  impossible  to  study  the  works  them- 
selves without  that  impression  of  the  author  which  gives  to  the  study  its 
highest  value  and  its  most  exquisite  delight." 

A  TREATISE  ON  PULMONARY  CONSUMPTION,  suitable  for 
the  general  reader,  comprehending  an  Inquiry  into  the  causes,  nature, 
prevention  and  treatment  of  Tuberculous  Diseases.  By  James  Clark, 
M.  D..  F.  R.  S.  In  1  vol.  8vo. 

"We  strongly  recommend  Dr.  Clark's  Treatise,  as  it  sets  the  general 
pathology  and  hygiene  of  the  disease,  (consumption,)  as  well  as  the  prin- 
ciples of  its  treatment,  in  the  clearest  light." — Lancet,  Jan.  1835. 

WRAXALL'S  MEMOIRS.   Posthumous  Memoirs  of  His  Own  Time. 

By  Sir  N.  W.  Wraxall,  Bart.,  Author  of  Memoirs  of  My  Own  Time. 

1  vol.  8vo. 

"We  are  well  pleased,  and  sure  we  are  the  reading  public,  will  be  well 
pleased  again  to  meet  the  gossipping,  amusing,  anecdote  telling  Sir  N.  W. 
Wraxall,  whose  foreign  travel  and  intimacy  with  leading  persons  inmost 
walks  of  life  at  home  enabled  him  to  pick  up  so  much  intelligence,  and 
whose  talents  were  so  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  task  of  communicating, 
in  an  agreeable  and  entertaining  manner,  the  intelligence  he  acquired. — 
Literary  Gazelle. 


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